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

Papua New Guinea’s biggest referral hospital has reached a crisis point as the covid-19 pandemic positivity rate surged drastically to 85 percent yesterday.

Port Moresby General Hospital chief executive officer Dr Paki Molumi in the National Capital District (NCD) has revealed that three children with covid-19 had died three days ago.

He also said yesterday that the hospital had recorded the highest deaths on arrival — 50 on Monday, 40 on Tuesday and 30 on Wednesday.

This was a sign that the hospital was reaching a crisis point with services teetering on collapse unless they are immediately given more support.

“PMGH now we have reached a crisis point. The first surge we were able to manage, the second surge we were able to manage but this third surge which is the delta variant is very aggressive, and we are reaching a very critical term,” he said.

“Aggressive means in the first surge we saw a lot of older people getting infected, and so with the second surge.

“This one, we are getting very young people — we lost three kids three days ago. This surge is not discriminating with anyone, its affecting everybody.”

Another dilemma
The hospital is also faced with another dilemma — this time over dead bodies that urgently require money and paper work to be completed to pave the way for their burial.

The deceased include a staggering 300-plus dead bodies with many of them covid-19 related cases and the hospital does not know where it will put the new bodies that are coming out from its covid-19 wards.

Dr Molumi also said 94 of their medical staff were infected with the virus, 52 medical and 42 nursing staff of the hospital had been infected by the virus. They must be given days off for home isolation, further reducing manpower.

“We are faced with a crisis where cobvid patients are presenting in large numbers with shortness of breath requiring manpower to assist,” he said.

“The few staff left are overworked and fatigued and we need to recruit more staff urgently.

“Our staff are facing unprecedented mental health challenges, as we witness death tolls never seen in the history of our hospital.”

“Our AusMat triage tent in front of the PMGH is full, emergency department is full, the isolation ward is full, the covid ward is full and all other beds in different sections, including the maternity wing allocated to covid are also full with covid-19 patients.

‘Dying before reaching hospital’
“People are dying without reaching the hospital. Our mortuary recorded 50 deaths on admission on Monday, 40 deaths on admission on Tuesday and 30 deaths on admission today, with more expected tonight.

“We have never recorded such a high number of deaths on admission.

“The morgue is filled, with bodies packed on top of one another. Right now, 300 plus bodies are at the morgue.

“Three more refrigerated containers have been installed to store dead bodies, but this is not enough. Some bodies were left outside for days because we just don’t have space in the morgue.

“A mass burial of 200 bodies is being planned this week to create more space. The bodies are both covid positive and unclaimed non-covid,” he said.

“So we as the city’s hospital serving over a million population in the national capital district, Central Province as well as parts of Gulf — we are reaching a crisis point.

Matt Cannon, chief executive of St John Ambulance, also said the service was in crisis.

“I think it’s fair to say that the ambulance service at this stage is in a crisis level,” he said.

“Challenges they need to cater for increasing number of patients… our ambulance service is also seeing a stretch!”

Gorethy Kenneth is a senior PNG Post-Courier journalist.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The flowers outside the building are in full bloom — green, red and yellow, sparkling with hope.

You are welcomed by the usual cool mist in Kol Ples Goroka.

But that welcoming coolness dissipates fast when you get close to ground zero.

Inside the Goroka Provincial Hospital, in stark contrast, the gloom of death hangs in the air.

Sister Lynnette Babah has never seen anything like this before in her entire nursing career.

The past few weeks have been the most difficult in her life, testing her mettle, her physical willingness, her mental resolve.

Death is everywhere.

The Angel of Death
It seems like the Angel of Death, with a sickle, has swept into the Eastern Highlands and has a bed at the door of the hospital.

Death pervades the wards, the beds — even the cleaning agents cannot mask the stench of cadavers, and life here, even for the caretakers of the sick, is a misery, pockmarked by tears of grief.

It is easy to see why. Covid-19 and its delta strain are draining every ounce of life out of the victims.

The covid that every Papua New Guinean thought they are immune to is finally wreaking havoc with a rising death toll in Goroka, Mt Hagen and the capital Port Moresby.

Despite warnings, despite calls to vaccinate, many victims, both educated and illiterate, have fallen victim to the virus.

Last week, I was one of few journalists from Port Moresby that accompanied a team to visit Goroka.

I can tell you, it was nothing like normal. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared.

A shocking reality
In all of my reporting career, this is the first major ground zero medical emergency I have walked into and I was shocked into reality by what I was witnessing.

In Papua New Guinea, it is common to be drawn to a moment of euphoria or sadness; you see a mother or a child crying in a flash of gladness or sadness, your tears will follow that emotional outpouring.

You know when you find a hardened nurse tear up, you instinctively know something is not going right.

The loss of lives, desperation of the situation, sleepless nights, lack of rest, lack of medicine, equipment, even the simplest things like a pillow, they all add up to melting the heart of a helper.

Our arrival with the Team Sana medical team sort of sparked the built-up emotion in Sister Lynette and she burst out in tears.

She was comforted by the doctors and as she gained strength, she said with tears in her eyes: “It’s heartbreaking to see my patients struggle and die every day.

“In one day, we have 9 to 15 patients pass away and in one day we also struggle to save a life, it is really heartbreaking for me as a nurse to see them die in pain every day.”

A distraught mother
Outside, a distraught mother, Mary Anoixa (pronounced Anoiya), and her 10-year-old daughter, Josephine, are covered in black charcoal and have been camping outside of the Goroka Hospital morgue for two weeks.

Their home is a long way away in Lufa district.

They are here hoping to see her elder son’s face for the last time before he is put into the coffin and taken away for burial.

Her 29-year-old nephew, Nicky Anoixa, passed away two weeks ago from a severe attack of the covid-19 at the Goroka Hospital.

She shed a tear as she remembered the last time, she saw her nephew and held him before he was taken to the critical covid-19 ward at the Goroka Hospital on September 30.

She has camped at the site for the last two weeks, hoping to catch a glimpse of son’s body but as covid-19 nurses and doctors have advised her, it will never be possible.

They told her she would only be able to see her son being taken out of the morgue and placed into his coffin before the ambulance takes him away for burial.

The closest the family will get to see will be his coffin driven by the ambulance to his burial site.

Managing the virus surge
Governor Peter Numu said his province was managing the covid-19 virus surge despite all the struggles they were facing financially and socially.

Numu said he was thankful that he had allocated an approved budget of K1.5 million (NZ$605,000) to help with the covid-19 operations in the province, hence he was appealing to all other leaders to lend a helping hand.

He said September 30 was a day in his political life that he would never forget — he witnessed 10 people die of the coronavirus and received a phone call that 10 more of his family, officers and supporters had also died.

Numu urged people to change their attitudes so that they could better address the surging pandemic virus.

“Covid-19 is real, I made a visit there to the hospital and I saw for myself people dying,” he said.

“Like one day, I will never forget that day, 10 people died, five at Goroka Hospital, two dead upon arrival, and three deaths from Kainantu – a total of 10 reported cases.

“But on that day, I also received a lot of phone calls that about five or six people, unreported, died and these are healthy people I am talking about, some are my coordinators, some my supporters, some even my family members… many people died leading to this day.

“We want a complete lockdown for a period of 14 days; I know the people will say it is against their constitutional right and that we are suppressing them, but these so-called constitutional rights are qualified rights, which must also be consistent with other laws, like in this case we have the Pandemic Act, so when you want to exercise your right, you must know that the Pandemic Act is there to control the spread of Covid-19.

“Any measures put in place are law under the Pandemic Act.”

A strange stench
It is 11am as we enter the Goroka Hospital and the strange stench of the dead can still penetrate through the medicated disposable masks we are wearing.

And as if this is not bad enough, no one wants to talk to us as everyone we come across is “running” (not walking) to and from every ward and every building in the hospital.

Further, the feeling of entering a contaminated hospital is something one would not even dream of or dare do, but how can we as journalists avoid that?

But what is worse is the sound of the ambulance sirens going in and out of the hospital – some coming in with patients in critical condition and others carrying dead bodies, while others carry coffins out for burial.

And this has been the norm for the last two weeks– every 30 minutes, 20 minutes and 10 minutes.

The front of the hospital is piled up with all kinds of medical supplies from donor partners, organisations, students and others.

At the back of the hospital, there is a gate that never closes – opens 24/7 because buses, cars, and even ambulances come in every interval to bring in patient

s, some dead-on-arrival, while others make it to see another day, while the rest die from shortage of oxygen or have arrived late and not in time to be saved.

The clock is ticking
Everywhere in all these wards, someone is struggling to breath; an oxygen cylinder has run dry, a patient is screaming, families are begging for doctors to save their loved ones and next door someone has just passed on — there is wailing all over

The minute chores, hourly chores and a day’s chores are all about covid-19, staff are all dressed in PPEs — some quite worn out; everyone is masked and many are in complete apparel and rushing to and from every corner of the covid wards, emergency and morgue like zombies … the clock is ticking and they have to race against time in order to save a life.

Around the morgue area, family members sit in anticipation, hoping to see their loved one’s face for the last time – even knowing very well they cannot open those body bags.

There is wailing and mourning, people covered in black soot, some turn up with the best blankets to cover their loved ones stored away in those two big, refrigerated containers.

And one thing is for certain, the heartbreak they are going through is nothing compared to that of a normal dead – for the last time they see their loved ones is when they bring them to the wards, when they pass on, relatives cannot even say goodbye — they do that after they have been put in a coffin and driven away in their ambulances — that has been the norm.

• A seven-member team of PNG’s National Emergency Medical Team (EMT) — Team SANA — was deployed to Goroka on a 14-day mission to support the Eastern Highlands Province covid-19 response.

Eastern Highlands — now a high-risk highlands province — is currently experiencing a surge in critical covid-19 cases, and Team Sana’s presence on the ground is proving vital in helping the province manage its situation, while providing temporary relief to staff on the ground.

The team has been working with the provincial health authority to build capacity on the clinical management of severe covid-19 patients, incorporating safety and infection prevention control measures, isolation, conducting hands-on training for severe patient management and vaccine advocacy among health workers and patients.

According to the John Hopkins University covid-19 dashboard, Papua New Guinea has 24,041 confirmed cases and 266 deaths, but experts say the real toll is far higher. Only 0.7 percent of the country’s nine million people are fully vaccinated.

Gorethy Kenneth is a senior PNG Post-Courier journalist who accompanied the Team Sana mission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Half of Papua New Guinea’s parliamentarians are still not vaccinated despite widespread calls from the government, the business community, churches and civil society for people to get vaccinated.

A Post-Courier survey over the past few weeks showed that only 57 Members of Parliament out of 109 — two MPs have died — have been fully vaccinated.

The survey carried out by the paper and published in the weekend edition indicates the following:

• National Alliance – all 9 MPs fully vaccinated
• Pangu Party – 22 vaccinated out of 38 MPs
• United Resource Party – 5 vaccinated out of 8 MPs
• Social Democratic Party – 2 of their MPs fully vaccinated
• Our Development Party – 2 of their MPs fully vaccinated
• People’s National Congress Party – 3 out of 14 MPs vaccinated
• United Labour Party – 1 out of 8 MPs recorded being vaccinated

Most of the two-men and one-man party members have also received their vaccinations, while others have refused, or have not been reachable.

It was confirmed that most of the party leaders have been vaccinated, but their MPs have not.

When asked what their reasons were for refusing the vaccination regimes, their answers varied.

Some MPs ‘scared’, some read ‘too much’ social media
Some members told the Post-Courier they were scared, others said they were still sceptical of getting jabbed, some said they were still deciding, while a few said they read too much on social media and were not sure.

Three others joked they did not want to “turn into beasts”.

This comes as the nation is hesitant in its vaccination drive and the country’s National Control Centre and government struggle to administer its approved vaccinations.

The results also come as the Control Centre now battles a surge in covid-19 cases and the Delta variant with 10 provinces now declared high risk — including Western, Chimbu, Sandaun (West Sepik), Enga, Western Highlands, Hela, Eastern Highlands, Jiwaka, Morobe and Southern Highlands.

Some of the leaders from these high risk provinces have not been vaccinated, according to the Post-Courier survey.

The newspaper has a list of all the MPs that have been jabbed and those that have not been vaccinated to date.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Two deaths with two patients in critical condition is the status at one of Papua New Guinea’s leading hospitals as the covid-19 pandemic continues to create havoc along with an acute shortage of operational funds.

Mount Hagen Provincial Hospital in Western Highlands Province — owed K1.6 million  (NZ$650,000) by the central government in Waigani — struggles to maintain its ongoing clinical services as well as provide treatment and care to the escalating number of suspected covid-19 cases, said the Highlands Provincial Health Authority.

According to WHPHA acting chief executive officer Jane Holden, the hospital will definitely shut down come Christmas if funding is delayed further.

She said although the hospital was stretched to its limit, it tested 27 positive covid-19 cases in the last four days, bringing the number of new cases since Saturday to 109.

This left only five isolation beds unoccupied out of 20 available isolation beds.

“Two patients died last week and two are critically ill, Holden said.

“Although we cannot get the results for the whole genome sequencing, we must assume we are dealing with the delta variant, given the rapid increase in numbers and severity of their illness.

Funds for two weeks
“We only have enough covid-19 funds to support another two weeks work despite sending a request in late June to the Department of Health.

Holden said if there was no funding, the hospital would shut down its services before Christmas.

“This will commence next week with the closure of consultation clinics for any new patients and the discharge of others over a couple of weeks.

“We will also need to ask patients coming from other provinces to seek support locally rather than come to Mt Hagen Hospital.

“Over the next four to six weeks, beds will be closed as patients are discharged home.

“Further reducing services at the hospital just puts increased pressure on rural health services, and we know that they are also stressed.

“Church Health Services have not had funding support this year either and are under significant pressure as well,” Holden said.

“This is a very difficult time.”

According to statistics from National Control Centre, Papua New Guinea is reporting 1000 new cases a month — an increase of 50 percent, averaging 500 new cases a month.

In the last three weeks, 649 cases were confirmed, with 18 deaths reported in the same period. Of this, one medical doctor had died out of the 53 health workers who tested positive with covid-19.

‘Biggest’ threat to Pacific in century
Meanwhile, in New York, US, Prime Minister James Marape told a Pacific Islands Forum meeting last week that covid-19 presented the biggest threat to the health and wellbeing of Pacific people and the world in more than a century.

He told a virtual PIF Leaders Meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly (UNGA): “Never before, has the full Forum membership simultaneously been in a crisis wherein members face significant challenges to prepare, respond and mitigate the immediate and associated threats posed by the covid-19 pandemic.”

Marape said a unified collective regional approach to address covid-19 through the Pacific Humanitarian Pathway had ensured countries remained relatively unscathed from the health impacts of covid-19, with six countries still covid-free.

“The emergence of the more transmissible strains of the virus is concerning, with clear evidence that the coping capacity of some of our members’ health systems is struggling to keep up with the rapid spread of the virus,” he said.

“There are some assurances provided through vaccine-powered recovery, however, in places where vaccines are not yet widely available, or in communities where people have not been vaccinated despite availability, the virus could still spread rapidly.

“When forum leaders met last month, we re-emphasised the importance of ensuring the distribution of safe and effective vaccines in the Pacific region and reiterated our call to global leaders to support the equitable and affordable distribution of safe and effective covid-19 treatments and vaccines to all Pacific peoples, facilitate early economic recovery and to call for a WTO TRIPS waiver for covid-19 vaccines.

“We also committed to collectively ensure comprehensive vaccination coverage is achieved for our Pacific peoples by setting a target of 80 percent of the eligible population for the Pacific region subject to country readiness by the first quarter of 2022.”

Rita Peki is a PNG Post-Courier reporter.

Covid surge threatens PNG’s Mt Hagen hospital with ‘closure by Christmas’https://t.co/KT37BGLGeP
Mount Hagen Provincial Hospital in Western Highlands struggles to maintain its clinical services and provide treatment and care to the escalating number of suspected covid-19 cases pic.twitter.com/KbnPWEuFgo

— Pacific Security Hub (@PacSHub) September 28, 2021

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A Papua New Guinean doctor evacuated from Daru in Western Province to Port Moresby last Tuesday has died – the latest medical person to succumb to the covid-19 pandemic in the country, reports The National.

The doctor was flown to Port Moresby after she suffered severe distress, according to Deputy Controller of the National Pandemic Response Dr Esorom Daoni .

“Daru Hospital has lost three people to the covid-19 in less than two weeks,” he said.

“These are people who are still in their prime age, but that is what the covid-19 does.”

There are 18,808 confirmed cases of covid-19 in Papua New Guinea with health workers making up 9 percent, or 1705.

A number of them have died.

He said there was a possibility it could be the delta variant which was spreading in Western Province.

“Unless it is proven otherwise, we can say that (her death) is due to the delta variant because the virus spreads fast and is deadlier for those with comorbidities and the elderly,” he said.

Dr Daoni reminded people around the country to follow public health safety rules: washing of hands, covering of mouth when coughing, avoiding crowded places, and physical distancing by 1.5 metres in public places such as markets and shops.

“When you protect yourself from diseases like covid-19 by following the health measures, you are not only looking after yourself and your loved ones but also protecting people who would look after you – the health workers,” Dr Daoni said.

Daru Hospital chief executive officer Dr Niko Wuatai said the hospital was preparing wards in case of a large number of admissions.

He said Daru was experiencing a third wave of the pandemic. As of Tuesday, the hospital had reported 89 positive cases in two weeks.

Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Ten people have died from Papua New Guinea’s covid-19 pandemic and 203 new cases were reported in five days from September 9 as National Pandemic Response Deputy Controller Dr Daoni Esorom made a red alert call on Independence Day “super spreader”  events.

“Papua New Guineans are just not heeding our calls to adhere strictly to public health protocols like masking up and keeping social distancing at the mass events,” he said.

“There is a high risk of a surge in infections in the coming weeks and months.”

Esorom urged provinces to be proactive in their covid-19 response.

“There were shows in Goroka, Enga, Western Highlands and other provinces despite the National Control Centre advice not to proceed.

“If the events result in a surge of covid-19 cases, the provincial health authorities and administration must be fully responsible. These are super-spreader events,” he said.

“Money will not run away. At this time [in the face of the Delta variant threat] gatherings should be limited.”

Appeal to the people
He appealed to the people — whether they believed that covid-19 was there or not, believed in conspiracy theories or in not being vaccinated — there were two strategies needed to prevent a big surge in the country.

“The first is observing strictly to the Niupela Pasin (New Normal) which was nothing more than listen and follow.

“Niupela Pasin is a public health and social intervention that in the long-term will definitely reduce the number of cases.

“At the same time they are cost effective strategies.

“It will not cause a lot of money but in the event that we do not follow them,there will definitely be a big surge of the covid-19 infections in Papua New Guinea.

“If we have to get ourselves out of the epidemic, we need to vaccinate ourselves, and everyone.”

In an update on Wednesday, NCC Incident Manager Dr Melinda Susapu said two covid-19 deaths were reported on Monday on the back of 130 new cases (120 in Western, three in Hela, two in the National Capital District (NCD) and one each in Morebe, Eastern Highlands, New Ireland, Madang and Jiwaka).

Deaths now 204
She said the two deaths were from Western Province which brought the total cumulative deaths to 204.

The total number of covid-19 cases in the country was 18,542 of which 17,892 had recovered and 448 cases still active.

“NCC had yet to receive the samples that were sent to the Doherty Institute in Melbourne, Australia, to confirm whether the covid-19 cases reported were of the delta variant because the institute was not able to run tests for the samples (Australia is also experiencing a surge in cases).

“Of the 130 new cases, 24 were re-infection cases (22 in Western and two in NCD which means these people had contracted covid-19 some five or more months ago and these data will help in understanding the transmission dynamics of covid-19 and whether it was characteristic of Delta.

“Only eight of the 22 provinces are reporting regularly,” she said.

Susapa said due to delays in the reports the actual situation in provinces could be grossly underestimated.

Reporting gaps
“The surveillance teams are constantly identifying reporting gaps and are working with provinces to ensuring the discrepancies are minimised,” she added.

Susapu said the total number of covid-19 tests done to date in the country was 182,403 “which is very low”.

Esorom said it was important that health facilities were conducting testing and people should go for testing because testing was necessary “for us to understand the extent of the spread and for us to respond appropriately”.

“It is taking too long for the genome sequencing of samples sent to Australia,” he said.

“Hence, the NCC is working with partners to enable the PNG Institute of Medical Research (IMR) to do that by next month.”

Lulu Mark is a reporter for The National. Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Police Commissioner and Controller of the PNG National Pandemic Response David Manning has authorised the release of new measures to address the covid-19 pandemic in the country on the eve of the 46th Independence Day.

Manning said these new measures, which came into effect yesterday, September 15, 2021, had been made in response to the continued threat of covid-19 while “ensuring continuity and normalcy” in life.

The ban on alcohol sales on Friday, Saturday or Sunday nationwide still remains in force.

The key changes are to international and domestic travel as well as social and business.

For international travel, the new measures are:

• New Quarantine periods: Seven days quarantine for incoming persons who are fully vaccinated and 14 days quarantine for partially vaccinated persons. PNG citizens and permanent residents who are unvaccinated are to be quarantined for 21 days. Any foreign national who is unvaccinated will not be allowed entry into PNG. Children under the age of 18 years who travel with a parent or guardian will be quarantined for the same period as their parent or guardian. Children under the age of 18 who are unaccompanied will be assessed and quarantined on a case-by-case basis. Children under five years are exempted.
• These new quarantine periods do not apply to all persons currently in quarantine – unless provided an exception which will continue to apply.
• Approvals to arrive in PNG are valid for 60 days rather than the previous 90 days;
• Approvals to enter PNG shall not be provided to persons travelling to PNG for the principal purpose of holidaying, vacationing or similar activity.
• All persons travelling to PNG must have a valid covid-19 test 72 hours prior to their original port of departure, rather than 7-days prior to departing for Port Moresby. For clarity and as an example, if a person initiated their travel in the United States of America and their flight transited through Singapore to Port Moresby, they would need to be tested 72 hours prior to their flight departing the United States of America, not the flight departing from Singapore. Children aged five years and under are exempted from being tested.
• All people arriving into PNG must be tested upon arrival and while in quarantine. This is the responsibility of the facility hosting quarantined persons. The cost may be passed onto the individual by the facility, but it is the responsibility of the quarantine facility to organise the tests and pass the test results onto the NCC.
• If an individual refuses to be tested, they will be quarantined for an additional 14 days.
• There is no restriction on which medical providers may conduct these tests, except that the medical providers and their staff must be properly licensed. The NCC will accept results from all such medical testing provider.
• Tracking of individuals for the purposes of quarantine is now only for home quarantine. Persons quarantining in scheduled quarantine facilities are not required to be tracked.
• All Charter Flights must – in addition to the normal approvals – have the Controller’s written approval. This power has not been delegated.

Domestic travel and social measures have been merged into Measure No. 3 “Domestic Measures”.

Other domestic restrictions continue to apply, including:

• No person may fly if they are symptomatic for COVID-19; and
• All travellers must have their temperature checked by airline staff and no person may travel if their temperature registers at or over 37.5C (except for medivac and emergency flights).

Grace Auka Salmang is a PNG Post-Courier reporter.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Papua New Guinean chief executives believe the country’s entire workforce needs to be vaccinated against covid-19 to be fully productive, says Business Council of PNG executive director Douveri Henao.

Although there seems to be a large number of vaccine hesitant people, Henao said that sooner or later it would be mandatory for companies or businesses that have more human contact, reports the PNG Post-Courier.

However, Lae Mayor James Khay said business houses in the country’s second-largest city must not force their employees to be vaccinated as this was against their constitutional rights of freedom of choice.

Khay said company managers, supervisers, human resource or anybody in management had no right to force their employees to get vaccinated as this was optional, not compulsory.

He said companies imposing strict “no jab, no job” policies as a preventive measure against covid-19 must remember that they would be depriving the rights of their employees to decide. This was totally wrong.

The controversy arose after 500 employees of Mainland Holdings Limited (MHL) walked off their jobs in Lae in protest over the their management’s vaccine policy.

Mainland Holdings Limited (MHL) management, in an unsigned circular, has advised staff members who have been vaccinated to come back to work.

Workers’ petition
In the company’s response to a five-point petition presented by staff to the company directors, the company advised:

• The company’s vaccination policy will not change; and
• The company will follow “Niupela Pasin” protocols

MHL has agreed to pay wages and salaries, long service leave entitlements, rental fees and other entitlements.

All payments will be paid into bank accounts in compliance with company policies

The CEO refused to resign for keeping employees, families and the business safe.

Meanwhile, a major political party in the coalition government has weighed in on the “no jab, no job” controversy, saying it would support the people in a fight against companies demanding that their employees get vaccinated or lose their jobs.

The United Labour Party’s acting secretary Ruben Giusu, speaking from Lae, told the Post-Courier citizens had the constitutional right to choose whether or not get the covid-19 vaccine.

He said the party had met with unions in Madang and in discussion with the unions in Morobe Province about this and other issues affecting workers around the country.

“We have also received a petition from the Morobe Union and will be presenting that to the Prime Minister’s office,” he said.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A female nurse in Madang is the first local Papua New Guinean to be tested positive for the highly infectious coronavirus covid-19 delta strain, with health officials scrambling to find out where she got it from.

She becomes the eighth confirmed case in Papua New Guinea. The other seven cases recorded so far are:

• A woman from Myanmar who had been in hotel quarantine since arriving in PNG. She was a close contact of another traveller who had tested positive on July 13. Both have since recovered; and
• Six Filipino crew members, including the captain, of a vessel which arrived from Indonesia last month. Four were in isolation on the vessel while the captain and another were in isolation at a private hospital in Port Moresby. All have recovered, and the Covid-19 National Control Centre (NCC) allowed the vessel to leave the country.

Controller of the PNG Covid-19 National Pandemic Response David Manning said the concern now was on the nurse in Madang.

Controller of the PNG Covid-19 National Pandemic Response David Manning said the concern now was on the nurse in Madang.

“This is a local case, outside of Port Moresby and (not associated) with the (Filipino vessel crew members) cluster tests,” he said.

“This proves community transmission which is of particular concern to us.

“Finding the infection source”
“We are working on finding the source of the infection in Madang.”

He said the NCC would continue to update the public on the Madang case.

“She had presented with symptoms on June 30, and immediately went into isolation while awaiting test results,” he said.

“She then remained in quarantine until she was no longer symptomatic.

“But when her positive test result revealed a high viral load, a sample was sent to the Doherty Institute in Melbourne for whole genomic sequencing.”

Manning warned that if the delta strain was to spread in PNG, it could result in “thousands of deaths and hundreds of thousands of people becoming very sick”.

He also warned about a potential third wave of covid-19 infections and urged the people to follow covid-19 public safety measures and get vaccinated.

“PNG has done well under the international health regulations by detecting the covid-19 celta variant cases, managing them and discharging them when they were cleared medically from isolation.”

The genomic sequencing results for each of the eight confirmed covid-19 delta strain cases were received from the Doherty Institute in Melbourne on August 4.

Miriam Zarriga is a reporter for The National. This article is republished with permission.

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As the delta variant of covid-19 spreads to more than 96 countries, Papua New Guinea has put in tighter measures that include all incoming passengers and crew to be vaccinated before boarding any international flight entering the country.

Police Commissioner David Manning, who is also Controller of the PNG COVID-19 National Pandemic Response, released the new control measures yesterday.

Under the updated measures, all incoming passengers and crew should be vaccinated before boarding an international flight coming into PNG.

And the mandatory quarantine period has been extended to 21 days for all incoming travellers, with covid-19 tests to be undertaken on the first, seventh and final day of quarantine.

Scheduled flights can continue as normal, while unscheduled flights require approval from the Controller.

Manning said the new measures were aimed at preventing the spread of the covid-19 delta mutation.

PNG is struggling with widespread community transmission of the virus, with more than 17,000 confirmed cases and rising.

‘Serious threat’
“The delta strain of covid-19 poses a serious threat to our country, and we will do everything we can to prevent or delay its arrival and spread,” Manning said.

Institute of the National Affairs executive director Paul Barker has welcomed the new measures, saying that the restrictions on international flights are really wise — but they also needs to apply to the West Papua border with Indonesia.

“The variant is dominant in India and has become dominant in a short time in Fiji, UK, and South Africa, and is spreading fast in US, and lately has slipped into UK,” he said.

“It’s 60 percent more infectious than the UK variant, which was 60 percent more infectious than the original virus we have here.”

“It’s good to keep it out as long as we can, but it’s already spreading fast in Indonesia, so it will be challenging.”

Overseas destinations
Meanwhile, Air Niugini has also released a statement advising passengers on Air Niugini international flights departing from overseas destinations on or after Friday, July 2, 2021, and entering PNG, must now :

• Be fully vaccinated against covid-19, and provide evidence in the form of a vaccination certificate at check-in;
• Quarantine for 21 days on arrival in PNG at the individual’s expense;
• All previous approvals for home quarantine, or shorter quarantine period, have been revoked by the Controller; and
• All previous Controller approvals for a person to enter PNG as required under previous Measure 2 remain effective, but are now subject to the new direction.

There are no changes to the requirements for international passengers departing from PNG.

Air Niugini continues to operate six flights a week to Brisbane, one flight to Sydney, four flights per week to Singapore, and twice weekly flights each to Manila and Hong Kong.

Rebecca Kuku is a senior journalist with the PNG Post-Courier. This article is republished with permission.

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Anti-vax misinformation is throwing a spanner in the works for covid-19 vaccination programmes in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands, with the prime ministers of both countries firing warnings at those spreading it.

PNG Prime Minister James Marape issued a blunt statement this week, saying his government had done everything possible to provide the vaccine during a time of global demand, and that if people did not get themselves vaccinated and then felt sick or died, they only had themselves to blame.

The tally of confirmed cases of vovid-19 in PNG has grown at 16,000 cases in four months, and almost 17,000 people have tested positive for the virus so far. Yet the rate of infections has tapered off from the highs of March.

The government has declared the situation under control, but is anxious to use its supply of AstraZeneca doses before they expire. About 100,000 doses sent through the COVAX programme facility need to be used within a month or they will go to waste.

A little more than 41,000 people in PNG have now had the vaccine, mostly essential workers and about 7000 health workers. But the figures are a drop in the bucket compared to the total population of 9 million people.

Professor Glen Mola, the head of obstetrics and gynaecology at Port Moresby General Hospital, said the government could be more vigorous in quelling misinformation from anti-vaxxers.

“It’s just ridiculous that we spend hundreds of hours out of our precious health worker time countering the ridiculous conspiracy theories of a few people. They spend all their days on social media spreading all this fear,” he said.

“The Controller has powers under the National Pandemic Act, to declare people a threat to public safety… and give them a warning and lock them up if they don’t heed the warning.”

Hesitancy, social media and antivaxxers
Many of PNG’s nurses initially refused to get the vaccine when first offered in late March and early April, asking for clear information about its safety and efficacy.

A Port Moresby nurse (who asked not to be named) this week told RNZ her colleagues had been working their way through the information about the vaccine that had since been made available to them, but she was not yet convinced about it.

“The frontliners are not well informed of all those things, so most of us are still in suspense. But we are just trying to read around and search online, and see for ourselves what it is.”

Professor Mola said his team of doctors had all lined up for the jab, but more work was needed to be put into the campaign to vaccinate as many health workers as possible.

“They’ve had their first shot, and some have had two shots now — that’s the doctors in the maternity side. And we have not had a doctor go down with covid since we started vaccinating.”

One prominent anti-vaxxer in PNG with almost 7000 Facebook followers offers multiple daily commentaries on what she described as a global project to kill and maim millions.

The information shared included “terrifying” reports from an alternative UK media source, denigration of organisations which support the vaccine rollout in PNG, and questions such as: “How many times do we have to tell these idiots who have allowed themselves to be injected with poison?”

Marape earlier warned citizens against relying on information on Facebook to guide their approach to vaccines.

The official death toll from covid-19 in PNG is 164, but as with the total confirmed cases, the real figure is likely to be much higher, as testing for the virus and reporting of deaths have been limited.

Health workers feature prominently among those in PNG confirmed to have caught the virus so far, and systemic staffing shortages were placing great strain on the workers who continued on the job.

The Port Moresby nurse spoken to by RNZ said she believed there were hospital staff infected with the virus who continued to work in the hospital.

“Maybe they are just trying to normalise the coronavirus like any other diseases,” she said.

Solomon Islands health workers warned
In Solomon Islands, Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare spoke out in a nationwide address criticising a small group of health workers who had promoted misinformation about covid-19 vaccine safety and effectiveness.

He said it was extremely sad that the group had ignored evidence that vaccines were vital to break the cycle of the pandemic, and instead promoted misleading information to the public.

“While I respect individual points of view, I will not allow deliberate misinformation to scare people that wish to protect themselves from covid-19.

“If such deliberate misinformation continues, those involved will be held accountable in accordance with provisions of the relevant regulations.”

Counting on demographics
Professor Mola said drily that the upshot was that PNG was relying on the natural protection in a youthful population to mitigate some of the impacts of covid-19.

“Seventy five percent of our population are under 30. And by and large (among) under-30s only one out of 1000 gets seriously ill, and one out of 2000 dies. So we’re going to rely on the protection of youth.”

PNG Health Minister Jelta Wong said officials were doing what they could to vaccinate the priority groups, and while there were ongoing “issues” with reaching all healthworkers, the vaccinations were now been extended to the elderly.

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

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The Papua New Guinean government should protect women accused of practicing “sorcery” from violence and hold the attackers to account, says the advocacy group Human Rights Watch.

At least five women have been attacked in the past three months since March 2021 — one of whom was killed.

“The Papua New Guinea government should urgently investigate all cases of violence following sorcery accusations, and prosecute those responsible,” Stephanie McLennan, senior manager of Asia initiatives at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement today.

“Gender-based violence is a persistent problem in Papua New Guinea, and the government is doing very little to stop it.”

Violence following allegations of sorcery is common in Papua New Guinea, with the most recent reported case on May 7 in Hela Province.

Mary Kopari was accused of sorcery following the death of a young boy in her village. She was tied up and burned alive in Komo-Magarima District.

The attack was recorded on video and reported by Papua New Guinea television. Although the police know the identity of some of the attackers, no arrests have yet been reported.

Surge in covid cases
Because sorcery accusations often arise in response to an unexpected death or illness in a community, the increase in such violence may be related to a surge in confirmed cases of covid-19 in Papua New Guinea.

On or around March 30, in Goroka, Eastern Highlands, a 45-year-old woman and her 19-year-old daughter were accused of causing the woman’s husband’s death, believed to be from covid-19.

They were held captive by the husband’s relatives and tortured with hot iron rods. Police rescued the pair.

On April 25, police rescued two women after a group of about 20 men tortured them in Port Moresby. The men accused the women of practising sorcery and killing a woman who had recently died.

The women were treated for severe burns and knife wounds.

“The Papua New Guinea government should address the root causes of sorcery accusations, including the lack of basic knowledge among the public about health problems,” McLennan said.

“The authorities should act swiftly and effectively to correct misinformation about deaths from covid-19 to prevent more sorcery accusations and attacks.”

Most attacks target women
While there are past cases of violence based on accusations of sorcery targeting men, the majority of these attacks target women. Such attacks are part of the larger problem of high rates of gender-based violence and impunity for the abusers in Papua New Guinea.

In November 2020 a coalition of Parliament members convened the country’s first national summit on gender-based violence. A special parliamentary committee on the issue held its first hearings on May 24 and 25, and will continue its inquiry until June 30.

Dr Fiona Hukula, gender specialist for the Pacific Islands Forum, testified at the May hearings about violence against women accused of sorcery, saying that they are are “often tortured, often cut, sexually violated, their clothes are removed and they are often kept in captivity”.

As Human Rights Watch has documented, greater resources and increased political will are needed to respond to all forms of gender-based violence in Papua New Guinea. At the recent parliamentary hearings, East Sepik Governor Allan Bird said “there are 1.4 million cases of GBV [gender-based violence] every year in PNG … and only 100 convictions achieved”.

Papua New Guinea will participate in November in the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review process under which member countries review the human rights situation in the country.

The Human Rights Watch submission for that process highlighted the issue of gender-based violence and violence following accusations of sorcery.

“Papua New Guinea’s leaders should order the police to take gender-based violence seriously, provide sufficient resources for officials to prosecute these crimes, and provide all survivors with medical treatment, shelter and access to support services,” McLennan said.

“The parliamentary inquiry should lead the way in exploring options for early warning, protection, and dispute resolution mechanisms that can help prevent such crimes.

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He said he was not willing to “sacrifice the health of our elected leaders while at the same time, observe the parliamentary process that can pose an immediate and real danger to our MPs, their staff and families”.

“I have rallied Members of Parliament on either of the House to consider this threat as serious and to ensure that our safety is not compromised,” Marape said.

Parliament was adjourned to August 10 after 42 parliamentary staff and an MP tested positive to covid-19.

This came shortly after the opposition amended its vote-of-no-confidence motion and named former prime minister Peter O’Neill as the alternative prime minister.

Marape said it was incumbent upon the government, with its numbers, to exercise care and responsibility to ensure that MPS were protected from the potential spread of the virus.

“I note that while the [Pandemic] Controller has classified these workers as essential workers for the purpose of the Pandemic Act 2020, the physical risk of a potential outbreak in Parliament can never be underestimated,” he said.

‘About us as human beings’
“This action is in the interest of all who sit in Parliament and all who work there.

“It is not about the government and the opposition; it is about all of us human beings, who are susceptible to the virus.

“We have to be responsible for lives, including the lives of politicians.

“Parliament, in its debate, confronted the loss of the former Member for Kerema to the virus.”

Members of the media queried the necessity of a four-month adjournment, when the incubation period for the coronavirus was two weeks, to which Marape said though the incubation period ends after two weeks that did not stop the spread of the virus.

Rebecca Kuku is a journalist with the PNG Post-Courier.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Papua New Guinea’s parliament has adjourned for almost four months, dashing an attempt to oust Prime Minister James Marape.

The adjournment allows Marape to avoid a no confidence vote.

Earlier, the opposition had tabled a motion of no confidence against Marape.

The opposition listed the former prime minister Peter O’Neill as its nominee for alternate prime minister.

However, PNG’s constitution doesn’t allow confidence votes against a sitting prime minister in the 12 months before an election.

The country is due to go to the polls in July next year.

The opposition is expected to challenge the adjournment in court, with O’Neill alleging it was in breach of rules around parliament’s minimum number of sitting days.

Covid-19 outbreak
But the adjournment was deemed necessary by government after the announcement of figures indicating a quarter of staff at Parliament are infected with covid-19.

Papua New Guinea crossed the threshold of 10,000 covid-19 cases yesterday, with 91 known deaths. However, health officials believe the true number of cases is much higher.

Parliament’s speaker, Job Pomat, told MPs that from preliminary sampling of 167 people within the parliament precinct, 42 – or 25 percent of them – tested positive for the virus.

RNZ Pacific reports that most of those infected were staff rather than MPs, but several MPs tested positive earlier this year, and Pomat said the situation was serious.

ICYMI – Preliminary testing for Covid-19 among staff at Papua New Guinea’s parliament precinct indicates a quarter of them are infected.https://t.co/qJ6OJkFLu1

— RNZ Pacific (@RNZPacific) April 21, 2021

On the advice of the National Pandemic Response Controller, David Manning, Pomat said all staff and members were to undergo compulsory testing for the coronavirus.

Pomat said that prior to the letter he had already issued a similar directive.

“I have now issued further directives for compulsory testing to be conducted to both members of staff of parliament and political staff,” Pomat explained.

Another Vote of No Confidence is being lodged – former PM Peter O’Neill expected to be listed as the Opposition’s candidate for PM. https://t.co/YrU1vT1D3B

— Natalie Whiting (@Nat_Whiting) April 21, 2021

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

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