Goroka town is under lockdown and remains tense as Papua New Guinea police mount a heavy presence following the brutal slaying of the PNG Ports chief executive Fego Kiniafa outside the Eastern Highlands provincial capital.

Kiniafa was slashed to death at Nagamiufa on Saturday after he allegedly shot a Nagamiufa man.

Four men who were with Kiniafa are alleged to have been taken hostage by Nagamiufa villagers.

His relatives from Korofeigu, Lower Bena, are reported to have mobilised and attacked Nagamiufa village, sparking a tribal conflict that shut down businesses in Goroka and sent people scattering.

Highway travellers were left stranded as vehicles deserted the roads between Lower Bena and Goroka, and international visitors to the just ended Goroka Show were also stranded at the new airport.

Police reported the Lower Benas wiped out Nagamiufa village in a 4am dawn raid yesterday.

Most people had fled in fear of the attack to neighbouring villages.

Raid because of no arrest
The raid allegedly occurred because there has not been any arrest made in relation to the death of Kiniafa two days after he was slashed to death near Nagamiufa village.

Spears, guns and other weapons were used as Goroka town was deserted with businesses shut down and the Goroka General Hospital also on lockdown as security was tightened.

Travellers wishing to travel out of the province after the EHP show were left stranded and locked inside the terminal as the airport closed its gates.

On Saturday morning, Police Commissioner David Manning confirmed the death of Kiniafa, 43, from a confrontation near Nagamiufa village.

EHP Police Commander Chief Superintendent Michael Welly said that the killing occurred between midnight and 6am on September 17.

According to police reports, Kiniafa was allegedly involved in a confrontation with several suspects from the surrounding settlements around Nagamiufa village in Goroka.

Kiniafa allegedly shot another man, and in retaliation the relatives of the man ambushed Kiniafa and his driver with bush-knives, killing them.

Four men allegedly kidnapped
Superintendent Welly said: “It is alleged that four men who were with Mr Kiniafa are said to have been kidnapped as well with police investigating the allegations and as well as investigating the incident on Saturday.”

Kiniafa was found at the scene and rushed to the hospital before being pronounced dead on arrival.

PNG Ports on Saturday afternoon released a short statement confirming Kiniafa’s death and announcing that chief operations officer Rodney Begley would manage and oversee the office of the CEO.

Kimiafa, who turned 43 on PNG’s Independence Day — Friday, September 16 — was one of the youngest chief executives of a government entity.

Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Independence leader and Nobel laureate José Ramos-Horta has declared victory in Timor-Leste’s presidential election, saying he had secured “overwhelming” support and would now work to foster dialogue and unity.

Data from the country’s election administration body (STAE) with all votes counted showed Ramos-Horta secured a decisive 62 percent win in Tuesday’s ballot, well ahead of his opponent, incumbent President Francisco “Lu Olo” Guterres with 37 percent.

“I have received this mandate from our people, from the nation in an overwhelming demonstration of our people’s commitment to democracy,” Ramos-Horta told reporters in Dili.

The 72-year-old statesman is one of Timor-Leste’s best known political figures and was previously president from 2007-12, and prime minister and foreign minister before that.

Addressing concerns over political instability in the country, Ramos-Horta said he would work to heal divisions in Timor-Leste.

“I will do what I have always done throughout my life… I will always pursue dialogue, patiently, relentlessly, to find common ground to find solutions to the challenges this country faces,” he said.

Ramos-Horta said he had not spoken to his election rival Lu Olo, but had received an invitation from the President’s Office to discuss a handover of power.

Political instability, oil dependency
Home to 1.3 million people, the half-island and predominately Roman Catholic nation of Timor-Leste has for years grappled with bouts of political instability and the challenge of diversifying its economy, which is largely dependent on oil and gas.

Ramos-Horta said he expected Timor-Leste to become the 11th member of the regional bloc the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) “within this year or next year at the latest”.

Timor-Leste currently holds observer status in ASEAN.

The president-elect, who will be inaugurated on May 20, the 20th anniversary of the country’s restoration of independence, said he would work with the government to respond to global economic pressures, including the impact on supply chains from the war in Ukraine and covid-19 lockdowns in China.

“Of course, we start feeling it here in Timor Leste. Oil prices went up, rice went up, that is a reality of what has happened in the world. It requires wise leadership.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Three new covid-19 cases have been confirmed in the kingdom of Tonga bringing the total number to five as the country went into a five-day lockdown.

In a press conference in Nuku’alofa yesterday afternoon, Tonga’s Prime Minister Hu’akavameiliku said that a woman and her two children had tested positive for the virus.

The latest transmission comes less than 24 hours after two men were confirmed to have contracted covid-19 yesterday.

The two men were port workers and are currently now confined in isolation at Taliai Camp, a Tongan military base.

The pair had been collecting emergency supplies from foreign aid ships arriving in Tonga and were among 50 frontline workers who had been tested for the virus.

The prime minister did not reveal which ships the men had collected supplies from, leaving the source of the transmission open to speculation.

Nuku’alofa harbour is reportedly full of supply ships laden with aid, including the Australian  ship HMAS Adelaide, which had confirmed before arriving in Tonga that 29 of its crew were in isolation on board after testing positive for covid-19.

Source of virus unclear
Tonga’s Parliamentary Speaker, Lord Fakafanua, told RNZ Pacific today that it was not clear how the two men contracted the virus.

He said that the covid-19 outbreak could not have happened at a worse time with covid-19 restrictions interfering with much needed aid deliveries.

The kingdom is still in the early stages of recovery from the devastating Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcanic eruption and tsunami, that left hundreds of Tongans homeless and properties damaged last month.

“The Prime Minister has reassured me this morning that the aid that is currently being distributed in Tonga will continue, the work that His Majesty’s Armed Forces is doing on the ground will continue under the lockdown because they are an essential service,” Lord Fakafanua said.

The country is polluted with volcanic ash that has fouled water supplies and carpeted the land with dust.

Two weeks after the disaster, telecommunications are yet to be re-established in most of Tonga, with no outsiders being able to make mobile or phone calls into the Vava’u and Ha’apai group of islands.

Lord Fakafanua also said there were worries about a potential covid-19 outbreak in Vava’u, as a close contact of one of the new covid-19 cases in Tonga had visited Vava’u over the week.

Contact tracing stepped up
The government has stepped up contact tracing measures in order to ring fence community transmission of covid-19.

Lockdown rules in Tonga will require everyone to remain at home, to practise social distancing, and to wear face masks in public.

Essential workers are exempted from restrictions of movement, such as Red Cross and aid distribution personnel, who would be allowed to operate freely.

According to Tonga’s Ministry of Health, more than 83 percent of the population of the eligible population (over the age of 12) have been fully vaccinated.

Exactly 73,938 people (over the age of 12) have been vaccinated at least once, representing 96 percent of those eligible for testing.

The Tongan government said at last night’s press conference that the lockdown would be reassessed 48 hours after its enforcement.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The Solomon islands government endorsed a 60 hour lockdown in the capital Honiara last night after an urgent special national address by Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare confirming covid-19 community transmission.

Honiara Emergency Zone will be in lockdown from 6pm last evening to 6am, Saturday, 22 January 2022.

The lockdown comes with restriction of movements of people as ordered by the Prime Minister under Emergency Powers (COVID-19) (Honiara Emergency Zone) (Restriction of Movement of Persons) Order 2022.

The order reads: “A person must not enter or leave the emergency zone on and from 6.00 pm on Wednesday 19 January 2022 until 6.00 am on Saturday 22 January 2022.”

The order also spelt out that a person must be at his or her residence during the lockdown period.

And it further stated that a person must not be away from his or her residence during the lockdown period.

Essential workers exempt
Those who are exempt to travel during the lockdown are essential services workers who are covered under the Essential Services Act (Cap. 12).

The lockdown in the Honiara Emergency Zone is important for the Ministry of Health and Medical Services to continue to carry out contact tracing of people who travelled on MV Awka from Ontong Java on January 10 after a passenger on that trip was tested positive for covid-19.

Prime Minister Sogavare said: “The full extent of the covid-19 infection in Honiara is yet to be established, since this diagnosis.

“Given that the positive case lives in a household with other people, and some other passengers that travelled on the vessel have been reported to be unwell, I am sad to inform you that we already have community transmission of covid-19 in Honiara.”

Members of the public are requested to practise basic health activities such as washing hands for 20 seconds or use hand sanitizers, keep social distancing of at least 2 meters apart from another person, always wear face masks and avoid congregating together.

Other measures that have been put in place include:

• Temporary suspension of all domestic flights to provinces until further notice;
• Suspension of all incoming passenger service from international flights — humanitarian cargo flights to continue; and
• Suspension of all incoming passenger services from international flights until further notice.

Humanitarian cargo services will continue. Other cargo services will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Overseas cargo vessels, fuel and gas tankers will continue to operate as Solomon Islands depend on these vessels for its survival.

They do not pose high covid-19 risks so they will continue to operate during the lockdown period if necessary.

The Honiara Emergency Zone boundary is from Alligator Creek in the East to Poha in the west end of Honiara.

Earlier warning
RNZ Pacific reports that Prime Minister Sogavare had earlier warned the country could expect a rapid spread of covid-19 and deaths.

This came after 10 people had illegally entered Solomon Islands at Pelau in Ontong Java – six of them were confirmed positive with covid-19.

One of those infected is a doctor and Sogavare said he was greatly saddened by this distressing news.

A foreign national on a flight from Brisbane has also tested positive.

It took the Solomons tally of positive cases to 32.

Sogavare spoke on Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation (SIBC), saying the number of positive cases was expected to grow rapidly in the coming weeks, and loss of life was expected.

The SIBC reports the prime minister saying the government had sent 31 personnel, including five additional police, to Pelau to bring the outbreak under control.

Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A group of citizens in New Caledonia has asked France’s highest administrative court to postpone next Sunday’s third and final independence referendum.

In an urgent submission, 146 voters and three organisations said that given the impact of the covid-19 pandemic, it was “unthinkable” to proceed with such an important plebiscite.

They said that because of the lockdown, campaigning had been unduly hampered as basic freedoms were impinged.

For weeks pro-independence parties have unsuccessfully lobbied Paris to delay the vote and they now say they will neither take part in the vote nor recognise its result.

They also say they will challenge the process at the United Nations.

France, which deems the pandemic to be mastered, last week flew in almost 250 magistrates and judicial officials to oversee Sunday’s vote.

It also flew in about 2000 extra police, including riot squads, to provide security for the referendum.

Wallisian party opposes ‘political nonsense’
New Caledonia’s Pacific Awakening Party also says next Sunday’s referendum is a “political nonsense”.

The party’s leader, Milakulo Tukumuli, said the vote should not go ahead as planned because the pandemic has made campaigning impossible and pro-independence Kanaks said they would not take part in the process.

The party, which represents Wallisian and Futunians and holds the balance of power in New Caledonia’s Congress, said all the same, the plebiscite on December 12 could not be legally challenged.

Tukumuli also said his party was against independence now because there was not the capacity to assume full sovereignty.

The December 12 vote will be the third and final independence referendum under the terms of the 1998 Noumea Accord.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

New Zealand’s cabinet has decided to ease restrictions for some, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says cases may peak this month at 200 a day, and Tonga will enter a snap lockdown at midnight.

Restrictions are set to ease slightly in both Waikato and Tāmaki Makaurau, albeit at different times.

Prime Minister Ardern announced at today’s post-cabinet briefing that Waikato would move down to alert level 3 step 2 from midnight Tuesday.

In Auckland, fewer than 5000 first doses remain before reaching 90 percent single-dose vaccination, and for Auckland as a whole 80 percent has had two doses.

“And that’s incredible,” said Ardern, praising Aucklanders for their progress.

“Case numbers, while growing, remain within some of our expectations as modelled and the public health assessment of the impact of changes like opening up retail include that this activity is generally not responsible for marked increases of new cases.”

Meanwhile, cabinet has decided in principle to move Tāmaki Makaurau to alert level 3 step 2 next Tuesday at 11.59pm.

Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said potentially slightly easing restrictions in Auckland was a pragmatic move.

Hipkins told RNZ Checkpoint tonight the in-principle decision was based on public health advice.

Covid-19 modeller Professor Michael Plank earlier warned that relaxing restrictions in Auckland and parts of Waikato would accelerate case numbers.

The numbers

• There were 162 new community cases reported today
• Of the new cases 156 are in Auckland, five in Waikato and one in Northland
• There are 53 people in hospital
• More than 3.1 million New Zealanders are now fully vaccinated
• More than 20,000 vaccines were administered yesterday

Cases could peak at 200 a day

Covid-19 cases may peak this month at 200 a day according to modelling that takes vaccination rates into account, Ardern said.

The government modelling suggested there could be 1400 covid-19 cases reported a week by the end of the month.

This would result in 150 new hospitalisations a week, with 11 of those patients requiring intensive care.

The modelling was based on a median scenario with a transmission rate of between 1.2 and 1.3.

Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said ICUs would not be overwhelmed with those numbers.

Tonga goes into lockdown
Two days ago the kingdom of Tonga recorded its first case of covid-19, now at midnight the main island Tongatapu will go into lockdown.

The lockdown will stay in place until next Sunday.

The positive case arrived in Nuku’alofa on a repatriation flight from Christchurch and while he is asymptomatic, he is being cared for alone in a special quarantine facility in Mu’a.

Tonga’s Ministry of Health Chief Executive Dr Siale Akau’ola said the remaining 214 passengers were in MIQ at the Tanoa Hotel while about 80 frontline workers who met the flight are also in MIQ at the Kupesi Hotel.

“In terms of gatherings this is the most significant part of the lockdown. No schools, all schools are closed, no church gathering, no kava club, no entertainment or any kind of gathering,” RNZ Pacific’s correspondent in Tonga, Kalafi Moala, said.

Safety fears as supplement sales soar
Sales of natural health supplements have risen since covid-19 arrived in New Zealand, but some products can have adverse effects such as anaphylaxis or death.

Supplements, however, are largely unregulated in New Zealand, with the Ministry of Health saying the pandemic has delayed new legislation.

Ten years of Medsafe data shows two people died from complementary and alternative medicine, or CAM, and that 30 percent of suspected reactions are life-threatening or cause disability.

About eighty percent of New Zealanders have taken natural health supplements, and Nielsen data shows sales in supermarkets alone rose by nearly 14 percent in the past two years, reflecting worldwide trends.

Man found after quarantine escape

Two positive community cases fled the Jet Park Managed Quarantine Facility yesterday, in a second breach of MIQ security at the weekend.

Police said one of the people has been found and returned to MIQ. He was found during a vehicle stop in west Auckland.

The whereabouts of a woman who also skipped MIQ on Saturday is known to police but public health officials said she did not need to return.

Police said a decision around any charges would be made soon.

Meanwhile, police said a 36-year-old man had been arrested and charged with Failing to Comply with Order (Covid-19) in relation to attending a gathering at the Auckland Domain and subsequent march through Newmarket on Saturday.

Ronapreve covid-19 treatment
A covid-19 treatment the government is purchasing can help reduce the number of people dying from the virus, says an expert from the University of Otago.

Pharmac revealed yesterday it is set to subsidise Ronapreve, also known as Regeneron or REGEN-COV, which is used for people in danger of becoming severely unwell.

It is expected to be in the country by Christmas.

University of Otago infectious diseases professor Kurt Krause told RNZ Morning Report it was a highly effective way of dealing with early infection and in preventing infection.

Medsafe is also considering molnupiravir for the treatment of covid-19.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

There were no community cases in Christchurch today. One previously reported case in the city has been reclassified as a historical case, so the total Christchurch tally is now four.

There was no media conference today. In a statement, the Ministry of Health said that because of the recently reported cases in Canterbury, it was important that anyone with any symptoms — no matter how mild — got tested.

The ministry said 73 cases were still to be linked.

There are 384 unlinked cases from the past 14 days.

The ministry said the reported number of cases in Auckland “is not unexpected and is line with modelling to date”.

Fifty-six people are in hospital, up from 47 yesterday. Two are in intensive care.

There were no cases detected at the border today.

There have now been 3348 cases in the current community outbreak, and a total of 6068 cases since the pandemic began.

There were 42,617 vaccines given yesterday, including 10,703 first doses and 31,914 second doses.

More locations of interest in Northland
The two Northland cases reported today were announced yesterday and have been formally added to the official tally today.

There have now been 12 confirmed covid-19 community cases in Northland in the current outbreak. All of the cases are isolating at home.

There are seven new locations of interest identified in Mangawhai, Kaiwaka and Whangārei – Public Health. More updates will be available on the locations of interest list on the ministry website.

Tonga traveller contacts
The ministry said the four household contacts of the person who reportedly tested positive for covid-19 in Tonga yesterday have been traced, are in isolation and have returned an initial negative result.

Two close contacts are in isolation at home in Christchurch and two in Porirua.

“Anyone with symptoms is asked to please get tested and reminded to get vaccinated today if they have not already. Testing locations in the Wellington region can be found at Capital and Coast DHB and Hutt Valley DHB.”

The positive covid-19 case on Tonga has been moved to a quarantine facility that has been set up in the Mu’a community clinic outside the capital, Nuku’alofa.

The man was returning to Tonga on a special relocation flight from Christchurch that landed in Nuku’alofa on Wednesday.

Record case count on Saturday
The highest national daily count for new covid-19 cases in the pandemic was reported yesterday, with 160 community cases.

A man infected with covid-19 was yesterday reported to have broken out of an Ellerslie MIQ hotel in Auckland, but was caught by police less than half and hour later and has been arrested.

A public health expert said the rising case numbers could be the result of people who were contacts or had symptoms not getting tested.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Indonesia’s popular tourism islands of Bali opened for tourism last week, while Thailand announced that from November 1 vaccinated travellers from 19 countries will be allowed to visit the kingdom including its tourism island of Phuket.

Both those countries’ tourism industry, which is a major revenue earner, has been devastated by more than 18 months of inactivity that have impacted on the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of people.

India and Vietnam also announced plans to open the country to vaccinated foreign tourists in November, and Australia will be opening its borders for foreign travel from mid-November for the first time since March 2020.

Countries in the Asia-Pacific region — except for China — are now beginning to grapple with balancing the damage to their economies from covid-19 pandemic by beginning to treat the virus as another flu.

The media may have to play a less adversarial role if this gamble is going to succeed.

October 11 was “Freedom Day” for Australia’s most populous city Sydney when it came out of almost four months of a tough lockdown.

Ironically this is happening while the daily covid-19 infection rates are higher than the figure that triggered the lockdowns in June.

‘It’s not going away’
Yet, New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet told Sky News on October 11: “we’ve got to live alongside the virus, it’s not going away, the best thing that we can do is protect our people (by better health services)”.

Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, addressing the nation on October 9, said: “Singapore cannot stay locked down and closed off indefinitely. It would not work, and it would be very costly”.

He added, “each time we tighten up, businesses are further disrupted, workers lose jobs, children are deprived of a proper childhood and school life”.

Singapore is coming out of lockdown when it is facing the highest rates of daily infections since the covid-19 outbreak.

Both Singapore and Australia adopted a “zero-covid” policy when the first wave of the pandemic hit, quickly closing the borders, and going into lockdown.

Both were exceptionally successful in controlling the virus and lifting the lockdowns late last year with almost zero covid-19 cases. But, when the more contagious delta virus hit both countries, fear came back forcing them back into lockdowns.

However, PM Lee told Singaporeans that lockdowns had “caused psychological and emotional strain, and mental fatigue for Singaporeans and for everyone else. Therefore, we concluded a few months ago that a “Zero covid” strategy was no longer feasible”.

‘Living with covid-19’
Thus, Singapore has changed its policy to “Living with covid-19”.

In a Facebook posting on October 10, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said: “The phenomenal response from Australians to go and get vaccinated as we’ve seen those vaccination rates rise right across the country, means it’s now time that Australians are able to reclaim their lives. We’re beating covid, and we’re taking our lives back.”

On October 8, Australia’s Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said that though infection rates might still be a bit high, yet less than 1 percent of those infected were in intensive care units (ICUs).

Why didn’t political leaders take this attitude right from the beginning and continue with it? After all the fatality rate of covid-19 has not been that much higher than the seasonal flu in most countries.

True, it was perhaps more contagious according to medical opinion, but fatality rates were not that large in percentage figures.

According to the Worldometer of health statistics, there have been 237.5 million covid-19 infections up to October this year and 214.6 million have recovered fully (90.4 percent) while 4.8 million have died (just over 2 percent).

According to the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates, there have been between 39-56 million flu cases, about 700,000 flu hospitalisations recorded in the US during the 2019-2020 flu season up to April 2020.

They also estimate between 24,000 to 62,000 flu deaths during the season. But did the media give these figures on a daily or even a weekly basis?

New global influenza strategy
In March 2019, WHO launched a new global influenza strategy pointing out that each year there is an estimated 1 billion flu cases of which 3-5 million are severe cases, resulting in 290,000 to 650,000 influenza-related respiratory deaths.

This has been happening for many years, but, yet the global media did not create the panic scenario that accompanied covid-19.

Unfortunately, the media’s adversarial reporting culture has helped to create a fear psychosis from the very beginning of the outbreak in early 2020, which may have contributed to millions of deaths by creating anxiety among those diagnosed with covid-19.

During the peak of the delta pandemic in India, many patients died from heart attacks triggered by anxiety. Would they have died if covid-19 were treated as another flu?

In the US out of the 44 million infected with covid-19 only 1.6 percent died. In Brazil from 21.5 million infected, 2.8 percent of them died, while in India out of 34 million infected only 1.3 percent died.

But what did we see in media reports? Piles of dead bodies being burnt in India, from Brazil bodies buried in mass graves by health workers wrapped in safety gear and in the US, people being rushed into ICUs.

They are just a small fraction of those infected.

Bleak picture of sensationalism
I was the co-editor of a book just released by a British publisher that looked at how the media across the world reported the covid-19 outbreak during 2020. It paints a bleak picture of sensationalism and adversarial reporting blended with racism and politicisation.

It all started with the outbreak in Wuhan in January 2020 when the global media transmitted unverified video clips of people dropping dead in the streets and dead bodies lying in pavements. Along with the focus on “unhygienic” wet markets in China this helped to project an image of China as a threat to the world.

It contributed to the fear psychosis that was built up by the media tinged with racism and politicisation.

If we are to live with covid and other flu viruses, greater investments need to be made in public health.

In Australia, health experts are talking about boosting hospital bed and ICU capacities to deal with the new policy of living with covid, and they have also warned of a shortage of health professionals, especially to staff ICUs.

What about if the media focus on these as national security priorities? Rather than giving daily death rates and sensational stories of people dying from covid — do we give daily death rates from heart attacks or suicide?

We should start discussing more about how to create sustainable safe communities as we recover from the pandemic, and that includes better investments in public health.

We need a journalism culture that is less adversarial and more tuned into promoting cooperation and community harmony.

Kalinga Seneviratne is co-editor of COVID-19, Racism and Politicization: Media in the Midst of a Pandemic published in August 2021 by Cambridge Scholars Publishers. IDN is the flagship agency of the Non-profit International Press Syndicate. This article is republished in partnership with IDN.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

National Capital District Governor Powes Parkop has announced that there will not be a total lockdown of Port Moresby.

He said the decision was made after much deliberation with key stakeholders in the city and the national government.

“Instead we will focus on maintaining and upgrading the three-pronged approach we are currently pursuing to respond to the third wave of the covid-19 pandemic,” Parkop said.

NCD Metropolitan Superintendent Gideon Ikumu said it would also be a logistical nightmare for police to arrest people who breached the covid protocols because they did not have the facilities to lock up all those people.

He said city police would only encourage city residents to observe the new normal protocols of wearing facemasks, observing social distancing and other measures as part of their policing routines in the city.

Superintendent Ikumu said this as the City Hall announced on Monday that it would not enforce a complete lockdown as many people had expected, despite the rocketing number of deaths and covid-19 positive cases in the city since September.

“There is an absence of regulations to implement the specifics of the Pandemic Act 2020 and we cannot arrest someone for simply not wearing a mask as an example,” he said.

Defining legislation
A regulation is the subsidiary legislation that defines the essence of an Act.

It also provides guidelines that show the way the Act needs to be implemented.

Superintendent Ikumu reiterated Governor Parkop’s appeal to city residents that to stop unnecessary deaths and to get “us to overcome the crisis at hand, it needs everyone to step up and do their part”.

“For those who are still reluctant or afraid of the vaccine for one reason or another, the “Nupla Pasin protocols and testing must be your foremost priority on a daily basis,” he said.

“We will do our best to encourage compliance but it is up to each and every person in the city to comply.”

According to the John Hopkins University global covid dashboard, Papua New Guinea has 27,895 confirmed cases of the virus and 335 deaths, but these figures are widely believed to be an underestimate.

Grace Auka-Salmang is a PNG Post-Courier reporter.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Fiji’s opposition National Federation Party has blamed 1150 pandemic deaths on the Bainimarama government’s “shameful and despicable” ego-driven leadership.

“Stop bragging and taking the Lord’s name in vain when you have presided over the single biggest disaster and loss of lives in our country’s 51 years of independence,” said Dr Biman Prasad, a former professor of economics at the University of the South Pacific.

“Talk about issues like how to alleviate poverty that reached almost 30 percent at the time of the so-called ‘Bainimarama Boom’ but has now escalated to about 50 percent due to economic depression caused by covid-19.”

This is the message to Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama from Dr Prasad after a message posted on the Fiji government social media page this week showing the prime minister as saying the battle against covid-19 pandemic was about to end — and declaring he had proved critics wrong and was in firm control.

“This is a national leader who brags about himself and claims he will secure every Fijian from clear and present danger,” Dr Prasad said in a statement.

“The prime minister forgets what he announced at the start of the second wave of the pandemic on April 19.”

“Then, he spoke about a grave and present danger to the lives of our people and the need to comply with strict measures and enforcement of lockdowns to contain and eliminate the virus.

‘1150 citizens’ lose their lives
“Almost six months later with the virus out of control due to the PM’s egoistic and ‘My Way or the Highway’ leadership in deciding to open up containment zones, 1150 citizens have lost their lives through no fault of theirs and more than 51,200 people have so far been infected”.

The Johns Hopkins University global covid dashboard (with data supplied by the Fiji government) states 649 deaths and 51,386 confirmed cases in Fiji as at today.

“And in a bid to keep a lid on the death toll and rate of infection, the Health Ministry split the death toll into two categories as well as significantly reduced testing and contact tracing.”

Dr Prasad claimed the ministry was now announcing deaths that occurred in the last three months saying it took time to investigate and determine the cause of death.

“It is shameful and despicable that instead of sympathising with the families who have lost loved ones and offering his genuine and sincere condolences, the PM showers himself with praise for his handling of the crisis,” Dr Prasad said.

“Does he have the courage to go to each individual family, undoubtedly, still grieving the loss of a loved one, and tell them that he is in firm control and protecting them from the grave danger posed by the pandemic?”

‘From containment to containers’
It was the prime minister, his government and their “From containment to containers” policy — allowing the virus to spread freely by opening up containment zones and installing three 12m container freezers as morgues — who must be held responsible for the “needless loss of life of our citizens and heaping pain, suffering and misery on the people”.

“The nation is at the crossroads, at odds with itself, due to failed leadership. Yet, we have a PM who says he is in firm control of the situation,” he said.

“This is symptomatic of a typical dictator who thinks he or she is always right despite the fact that people are dying, poverty is increasing and people are struggling to put food on the table.

“This façade must end at the next elections,” Dr Prasad added.

Fiji faces a general election next year.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A new poll shows nearly two out of three New Zealanders want the border to remain closed until at least 90 percent of the country is vaccinated.

The poll, in partnership with the country’s leading daily newspaper The New Zealand Herald, which is also running a 90% Project in support of high vaccination, showed growing support for vaccination, according to the paper in a front age report.

The Herald said the Talbot Mills Research poll indicated that 89 percent of those polled planned to get vaccinated or had already done so.

“The results contrast with a public appeal yesterday from former prime minister Sir John Key for New Zealand to break out of its ‘smug hermit kingdom’ by opening the border as soon as possible,” the Herald said.

The newspaper said that support for 90 percent was much higher than for the “option of opening the borders after everybody had been given a reasonable chance to get vaccinated, regardless of the overall rate – an option favoured by 26 percent of people.”

Political editor Claire Trevett wrote that support for the 90 percent plus threshold was “particularly high among Labour and Green supporters (70–72 percent support) – but about 60 percent of National and Act supporters also favoured it”.

The government had so far refused to set a specific threshold or date at which it would ease border restrictions, Trevett wrote. However, it had committed to trialling measures such as home isolation this year, as part of its road map.

“The poll of 1050 people aged 18 and over was taken from August 31 to September 6 – the third week of the lockdowns sparked by the delta outbreak. It has a margin of error of +/- 3.1 per cent,” wrote Trevett.

“The NZ Herald has joined with Talbot Mills Research for polling on vaccinations as part of the 90% Project, to help track public sentiment over the coming months.”

Covid 19 Delta outbreak: Sir John Key – 5 ideas to transform our approach, via @nzherald https://t.co/HByf2xoANA Problem is Maori and Pasifika will suffer most while Key’s mates enjoy their overseas holidays. Lift vaccination first

— Colin Tukuitonga (@ColinTukuitonga) September 25, 2021

12 new covid community cases
The Health Ministry reported 12 new community cases of covid-19 in New Zealand today, with all but two epidemiologically linked to previous cases.

In a statement, the Health Ministry said there were now a total of 1177 community cases associated with the latest outbreak of the delta variant of the virus, RNZ News reports.

All of the latest cases were identified in Auckland.

The ministry said one of today’s community cases had previously been under investigation and was now confirmed and linked to the current outbreak.

“The case has now recovered. The case spent 14 days in a quarantine facility along with household members who also tested positive for covid-19,” the statement said.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Papua New Guinea authorities are preparing for a four-week lockdown in at least three provinces at the end of the month.

The move has been prompted by a spike in covid-19 infection rates in Eastern Highlands province as well as the two provinces which sit on the border with Indonesia, Western and West Sepik.

While testing for covid-19 is limited in PNG, the delta variant was confirmed as being in the country in July, preceding a spike in patients at hospitals in these provinces.

It is understood the lockdown would begin in a week’s time, and entail closure of businesses, schools and churches, and restrictions in movement.

The cabinet and PNG’s pandemic advisory committee are also considering lockdowns in the National Capital District, Morobe Province, and other affected parts of the Highlands, including Enga.

The containment move was hinted at by Prime Minister James Marape before he flew to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly this week.

Marape told local media that they were seeing evidence of the delta variant spreading across the country, and people dying as a result.

With Marape now abroad, it is expected that the acting Prime Minister, Soroi Eoe, will sign off on the lockdown measures before the weekend.

Case numbers vague
Since testing for covid in PNG was scaled back in June, the available data on this third wave of the pandemic in the country has been vague.

As of Tuesday, the main agency overseeing PNG’s pandemic response, the National Control Centre, said the total number of confirmed covid cases in the country was 19,069, with the death toll at 212.

However, the limited level of testing and habitual delays in reporting of case loads from the provinces suggest the true figure of those infected is far higher.

Earlier, the Eastern Highlands Coronavirus Steering Committee enforced a blanket ban on all public gatherings due to a spike in infections and deaths.

Also, West Sepik and Western continued to attempt to restrict movement of traditional border crossers back and forth to Indonesia, however capabilities to monitor the border are also limited.

Around 2 percent of the country’s population have been vaccinated, according to the National Control Centre.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Auckland’s move to alert level 3 has also triggered speculation about whether the national covid-19 elimination strategy has failed or is even being abandoned. While the New Zealand government denies it, others clearly believe it is at least a possibility.

The uncertainty is troubling. If elimination fails or is abandoned, it would suggest we have not learnt the lessons of history, particularly when it comes to our more vulnerable populations.

In 1918, the mortality rate among Māori from the influenza pandemic was eight times that of Europeans. The avoidable introduction of influenza to Samoa from Aotearoa resulted in the deaths of about 22 percent of the population.

Similar observations were seen in subsequent influenza outbreaks in Aotearoa in 1957 and 2009 for both Māori and Pasifika people. These trends are well known and documented.

And yet, despite concerns we could see the same thing happen again, there have been repeated claims that an elimination strategy cannot succeed. Some business owners, politicians and media commentators have called for a change in approach that would see Aotearoa “learn to live with the virus”.

This is premature and likely to expose vulnerable members of our communities to the disease. Abandoning the elimination strategy while vaccine coverage rates remain low among the most vulnerable people would be reckless and irresponsible.

In short, more Māori and Pasifika people would die.

Far better will be to stick to the original plan that has served the country well, lift vaccination coverage rates with more urgency, and revise the strategy when vaccination rates among Māori and Pasifika people are as high as possible — no less than 90 percent.

Least worst options
After 18 months of dealing with the pandemic, it’s important to remember that Aotearoa’s response has been based on sound science and strong political leadership. The elimination strategy has proved effective at home and been admired internationally.

Of course, it has come with a price. In particular, the restrictions have had a major impact on small businesses and personal incomes, student life and learning, and well-being in general.

Many families have needed additional food parcels and social support, and there are reports of an increasing incidence of family harm.

The latest delta outbreak has also seen the longest level 4 lockdown in Auckland, with at least two further weeks at level 3, and there is no doubt many people are struggling to cope with the restrictions. The “long tail” of infections will test everyone further.

There is no easy way to protect the most vulnerable people from the life-threatening risk of covid-19, and the likely impact on the public health system if it were to get out of control. The alternative, however, is worse.

We know Māori and Pasifika people are most at risk of infection from covid-19, of being hospitalised and of dying from the disease.

Various studies have confirmed this, but we also must acknowledge why — entrenched socioeconomic disadvantage, overcrowded housing and higher prevalence of underlying health conditions.

More than 50 percent of all new cases in the current outbreak are among Pasifika people and the number of new cases among Māori is increasing. If and when the pandemic is over, the implications of these socioeconomic factors must be part of any review of the pandemic strategy.

Lowest vaccination rates, highest risk
Furthermore, the national vaccination rollout has again shown up the chronic entrenched inequities in the health system. While the rollout is finally gaining momentum, with more and better options offered by and for Māori and Pasifika people, their comparative vaccination rates have lagged significantly.

Community leaders and health professionals have long called for Māori and Pasifika vaccination to be prioritised. But the official rhetoric has not been matched by the reality, as evidenced by our most at-risk communities still having the lowest vaccination coverage rates in the country.

Te Rōpū Whakakaupapa Urutā (the National Māori Pandemic Group) and the Pasifika Medical Association have repeatedly called for their communities to be empowered and resourced to own, lead and deliver vaccination rollouts in ways that work for their communities.

Te Rōpū Whakakaupapa Urutā have also said Auckland should have remained at level 4, with the border extended to include the areas of concern in the Waikato.

As has been pointed out by those closest to those communities, however, their advice has consistently not been heeded. The resulting delays only risk increasing the need for the kinds of lockdowns and restrictions everyone must endure until vaccination rates are higher.

There is a reason we do not hear many voices in Māori and Pasifika communities asking for an end to elimination. Left unchecked, covid-19 disproportionately affects minority communities and the most vulnerable.

“Living with the virus” effectively means some people dying with it. We know who many of them would be.

Dr Collin Tukuitonga is associate dean Pacific and associate professor of public health, University of Auckland. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

French High Commissioner Patrice Faure in New Caledonia has declared an eight hour curfew for 15 days from tonight as health authorities reported 256 new cases yesterday in the covid delta variant outbreak.

The curfew will run from 9pm to 5am

Government spokesman Yannick Slamet and Health Director Dr Mabon de la Dass addressed last night’s media conference as the crisis entered its second week.

Dr De la Dass announced 256 new cases, taking the total to 821 cases since the outbreak began just over a week ago.

Seven patients were in intensive care and two people had died, one with other serious illnesses.

Eighty percent of the people hospitalised were unvaccinated.

Slamet said that local “tabac presse” shops — newsagencies — would be closed, but cigarettes and newspapers could be bought at supermarkets that remained open.

It was “inevitable” that the two-week lockdown declared last week would be extended.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

New Caledonia has recorded its first death of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The fatality was announced by territorial President Louis Mapou today in a televised address.

He said the victim was an elderly person — aged 75 — who had died in hospital.

The fatality comes four days after the first three cases of the latest community outbreak were detected.

Mapou said the delta variant crisis was unprecedented and the only means to counter the pandemic was vaccination.

He said another 51 infections had been detected in the past day, bringing the total to 117.

A lockdown has been in force since Tuesday.

New Caledonia’s members of the French legislature have asked France to send medical personnel because there were not enough specialists to staff the ICUs that had been set up.

In French Polynesia, a further three covid-19-related deaths were reported but health authorities say the latest wave appears to have peaked.

Almost 400 people have died since the surge of delta cases in late July, with the daily death toll reaching more than 20 two weeks ago.

However, the number of hospitalisations has remained high, with 303 covid-19 patients in care, 57 of them in ICUs.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Quatre jours après avoir plongé dans une crise sanitaire qui s’aggrave d’heure en heure, la #NouvelleCaledonie connaît son premier décès des suites de l’épidémie de Covid-19. Ce vendredi, une personne de 75 ans a succombé au Médipôle.https://t.co/3AGMeKpJvc pic.twitter.com/KvxHCjg2Lf

— NC La 1ère (@ncla1ere) September 10, 2021

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz