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A medical team has been airlifted to the Pacific island nation to assist with the COVID-19 response.
The Commonwealth government has answered a request for support from counterparts in the Solomon Islands, deploying an eight-person Australian Medical Assistance Team (AUSMAT) to help the country manage its latest COVID-19 outbreak.
The team was transported via a Royal Australian Air Force C-17A Globemaster aircraft, which also carried 37,800 AstraZeneca vaccine doses.
The AUSMAT crew includes emergency medicine, infectious disease control, logistics and occupational therapy specialists.
The team has been tasked with working alongside local health authorities, providing Solomon Islands’ Ministry of Health with mentoring and advice on the clinical management of COVID-19 cases, the distribution of critical health supplies and infection prevention and control.
The crew is also expected to collect information to help inform future Australian COVID-19 support missions.
In total, the Commonwealth government has delivered 300,800 AstraZeneca vaccine doses, and 19 tonnes of emergency medical supplies to the nation, including 100 oxygen concentrators and 11 COVID-19 country kits containing PPE and medical stores.
“The Australian government is committed to standing with the people of Solomon Islands as they respond to and recover from COVID-19,” Minister for Defence Peter Dutton said.
This is the ADF’s latest regional support mission, with the military also assisting with the supply of humanitarian aid to Tonga following the eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai volcano and subsequent tsunami.
Australia’s support for Tonga was recently broadened to include the restoration of power and communications, the storage and effective delivery of relief supplies, and further recovery efforts on the outer islands most affected.
Australia has thus far delivered more than 40 tonnes of emergency relief supplies to Tonga, including shelter materials, water and sanitation supplies, equipment to restore communications and personal protective equipment for those clearing debris.
The Commonwealth has also pledged an additional $2 million in humanitarian funding ahead of the next phase of Tonga’s recovery, bringing the total contribution to $3 million.
[Related: RAAF C-17A Globemaster delivers supplies to Solomon Islands]
