In the days before the flight landed in the country's humid capital, Honiara, local politicians and non-governmental bodies urged the Solomon Islands' Prime Minister to call it off. Despite China reporting just a handful of new coronavirus cases each day for the past few months, to some, the risk was too great. The Solomon Islands' borders have been almost entirely sealed for months. This flight, they worried, could bring the first reported case of Covid-19 into the country of almost 700,000, and wreak devastation on its poor health system. But the government didn't listen.
lørdag 19. september 2020
This Pacific Island province is so frustrated with China's presence that it's pushing for independence
It was pitched as a rare repatriation flight to bring people stranded in China back to their Pacific Island home which has yet to report a single coronavirus case. But of the 104 people on board the chartered Solomon Airlines flight from the southern Chinese city Guangzhou on September 3, only 21 were from the Solomon Islands. The rest were Chinese nationals, according to a report by Radio New Zealand which cited the passenger list.
In the days before the flight landed in the country's humid capital, Honiara, local politicians and non-governmental bodies urged the Solomon Islands' Prime Minister to call it off. Despite China reporting just a handful of new coronavirus cases each day for the past few months, to some, the risk was too great. The Solomon Islands' borders have been almost entirely sealed for months. This flight, they worried, could bring the first reported case of Covid-19 into the country of almost 700,000, and wreak devastation on its poor health system. But the government didn't listen.
In the days before the flight landed in the country's humid capital, Honiara, local politicians and non-governmental bodies urged the Solomon Islands' Prime Minister to call it off. Despite China reporting just a handful of new coronavirus cases each day for the past few months, to some, the risk was too great. The Solomon Islands' borders have been almost entirely sealed for months. This flight, they worried, could bring the first reported case of Covid-19 into the country of almost 700,000, and wreak devastation on its poor health system. But the government didn't listen.
