22 January – Police launch search operations to find nine people from a capsized boat near
Isabel Province. Five men, two women and two children were on board.[1]
31 January – The
Royal Solomon Islands Police Force stop searching for nine people who disappeared at sea on 15 January when their boat capsized. Five men, two women and two children are now presumed dead.[2]
April
3 April – Twenty-seven people died in the country after their boat capsized during the
Cyclone Harold.[3]
33 April – Despite having no cases,
the government stepped up checks on incoming visitors and introduced restrictions on visitors who have visited
countries deemed high risk.[4]
March
14 March – The country banned all travelers from China,
South Korea and Japan. Health minister
Dickson Mua also said that the country had suspended flights to
Brisbane, Australia, and banned all civil servants from overseas travel to contain
COVID-19.[5]
25 March – The country declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19.[6]
27 March – Prime Minister
Manasseh Sogavare suspended all
flights into the country, and declared a precautionary state of emergency in
Honiara, by which most entertainment venues would be closed (churches are exempt from the order).[7]
7 September – The
government of Solomon Islands says that a proposed
independence referendum in Malaita Province is illegal. Daniel Suidani, the provincial premier of Malaita, proposed the referendum in protest to the decision by the central government to switch recognition from
Taiwan to China last year.[11]