PNG’s Delta cases jump from 12 to 30 in two weeks

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PNG’s Delta cases jump from 12 to 30 in two weeks

PORT MORESBY: The highly infectious Coronavirus (Covid-19) Delta variant has started to spread in Papua New Guinea (PNG).

The bulk of the 30 Delta cases is in Western, due to PNG-Indonesia border crossings.

Two weeks ago, PNG had only 12 cases.

PNG Covid-19 National Pandemic Response Deputy Controller Dr Daoni Esorom said “there is a high chance of a severe outbreak (or surge) of Delta in Western with 22 confirmed cases”.

Details of the news break were reported by The National:

Delta attack

September 2, 2021The NationalMain Stories

By LULU MARK
TWO weeks after 12 cases of the highly infectious Coronavirus (Covid-19) Delta were reported on Aug 18, the infection has shot up to 30.
And, samples of the 79 new Covid-19 cases reported in Western on Tuesday are being sent to Australia for genome sequencing to determine if any of the infection is Delta.
Covid-19 National Pandemic Response Deputy Controller Dr Daoni Esorom said 22 Delta cases had been confirmed from Western and “there is a high chance of a severe outbreak (or surge) of Delta in the province”.
“Western is becoming a public health concern,” he said in a National Control Centre (NCC) media update yesterday.
The NCC had not had an update on the Covid-19 and Delta situation for a few weeks.
Esorom said the samples of the 79 cases, all from the North Fly, would be sent to Australia for genome sequencing to determine if any of the cases were Delta.
“Currently 30 Delta variant cases were recorded in the country (Western 22, National Capital District seven and Madang one),” he said.
“NCD cases are all imported cases (6/7 from Grand Tajima Ship) while the Western and Madang cases were locally transmitted. All of them have recovered.
“Phylogenic analysis shows possible genetic linkage between Delta cases in Western and Indonesia, and between Grand Tajma cases and the Madang case,” Dr Esorom said.
“We are pretty sure that number will increase when we send the 79 cases for genome sequencing.”
He said the revelation of the phylogenic analysis “showed that our people are crossing the border”.
Dr Esorom said the NCC had received reports that people were crossing the border despite the travel restrictions which was confirmed with the Delta cases reported in Western and Madang.
He urged the people to stop travelling to West Papua for any reason because there was a daily increase there and mostly Delta infections.
On Tuesday, Indonesia reported 7,427 new cases, Papua reported 73 new cases and West Papua reported 14 new cases.
Esorom said as of Tuesday in PNG, the total number of cases was 18,091, the death toll stood at 192, and that 17,683 infected had recovered, and 216 cases were still active.
He said 175 samples received from Aug 24 to Aug 30 were pending results, adding that PNG’s recovery rate was 98 per cent and the fatality rate was one per cent.
“However, testing has been a major concern for us as the testing rate is very low,” he said.
“We are not getting the required number of tests.
“If we conduct more tests, we will pick up more cases.”
He urged the Provincial Health Authorities to step up efforts to do more testing “to help us make better informed decisions to address the pandemic in the country, especially in the face of the Delta threat.”

‘All had proper papers, approval’

September 2, 2021The NationalMain Stories

By MIRIAM ZARRIGA
ONLY 31 Indonesians boarded Garuda Indonesia’s Flight GA-7610 in Jakarta on Aug 19 and all had proper papers and approval from Papua New Guinea Pandemic Response Controller David Manning, Indonesian Ambassador to PNG Andriana Supandy says.
“Flight GA-7610 had arrived in Jakarta from New Delhi enroute to Port Moresby,” he said.
“On board were 42 Indian High Commission (IHC) staff and PNG citizens who had been approved to travel.
“However, upon disembarking in Port Moresby, 114 passengers were noted to have been on the flight.”
However, National Pandemic Response deputy controller Dr Daoni Esorom confirmed last night that only 111 passengers had arrived.
The controversial flight had more passengers than Manning had approved, which included four passengers infected with the Coronavirus (Covid-19).
The flight fiasco resulted in Manning, who is also PNG’s police commissioner, immediately banning all Garuda flights into PNG air indefinitely.
Garuda is a state-owned entity.
CapaJet, the Hong Kong-based luxury charter flight service provider that arranged the flight for IHC, was also banned.
CapaJet had since denied that the PNG Government had placed a cap on passengers for Flight GA-7610. Manning also ordered a probe to ascertain how unauthorised passengers boarded Flight GA-7610.
He also requested the Government (Foreign Affairs Ministry) to deal with the IHC through appropriate diplomatic channels, saying: “The IHC must respect PNG as a sovereign nation and not participate in actions involving unscrupulous people and undermine public health and safety measures.”
Supandy told The National that the Indonesians had all returned negative results for the Covid-19.
“All the Indonesians are currently in quarantine (for 21 days) with no one reported to have left their quarantine sites,” he said.
“The process was entirely to provide assistance for Indonesians to board the aircraft. The support and recommendation issued by the Indonesian Embassy for the Indonesian citizens was carried out formally and respectfully to PNG Government regulations.
“I believe Garuda itself had strictly adhered to international standards and safety procedures when ferrying passenger.
“Based on the information I received from Garuda, during the transit of the flight in Jakarta and departing for Port Moresby, there were only Indonesians with valid immigration documents and approvals.
“I conveyed the same information in my meeting with the Foreign Affairs and International Trade Department secretary last Friday.
“I am glad that we share the same perspective on this issue.
“It was clear that what we experienced are technical issues and we have to be able to see it appropriately.
“I would like to assure you that the safety and well-being of Papua New Guineans are also our concern.
“We (Indonesia and PNG) also agreed that the most important thing for the way forward is the willingness from the relevant authorities to provide a further solution.”
The IHC had yet to respond to The National’s request for a response to the controversial flight, other than maintaining that none of its 42 passengers from New Delhi tested positive for the Covid-19.

 

Coronavirus testing rate remains low

September 2, 2021The NationalMain Stories

By LULU MARK
DESPITE the high risk of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) Delta variant, testing rate in the country remains very low, National Pandemic Response deputy controller Dr Daoni Esorom says.
Dr Esorom urged provincial health authorities (PHAs) to step up and do testing to enable better informed decisions to address the pandemic in the country.
He said testing had been a major concern as the rate was very low.
“The national positivity rate was 11 per cent and the average monthly positivity rate was 5 per cent,” he said.
“We are not getting the required number of tests.
“People dying have not been tested and they would have died from Covid-19 on top of other diseases.
“If we do a lot of testing, we will pick up a lot of cases.”
Dr Esorom urged PHAs to increase testing to enable better informed decisions to address the pandemic in the country, especially in the face of the Delta variant.
He said, to encourage more testing, the National Control Centre (NCC) has been advised the health facilities through the PHAs to swab and test everyone with influenza-like symptoms.
“We need to do more testing,” he said.
“That is the only way that we will know how this Covid-19 is spreading.”
He urged people to also go for testing if they were feeling sick.

 

Hesitancy in taking jabs

September 2, 2021The NationalMain Stories

By SHIRLEY MAULUDU
THERE is high level of hesitancy among workers from the private sector to take the Coronavirus (Covid-19) jabs, according to business leaders.
This was revealed through a survey conducted by the PNG Business Council during June and July.
About 150 chief executive officers, managing directors, country managers and senior employees were interviewed, representing about 20,000 employees.
PNG Business Council executive director Douveri Henao told a media briefing yesterday that companies had noted this as a challenge for them to keep their operations going.
“Business leaders have a strong preference on vaccinating all employees,” Henao said.
“But they recognise the challenge of having high vaccine hesitancy rate among their staff.
“Sixty-six per cent of business leaders surveyed are also open to shoulder the cost of vaccination for their employees, 76 per cent are willing to pay K300-K500 per vaccination per person. A majority of the business leaders surveyed are still uncertain about whether or not their organisations can support their vaccination programme for private sector employees and the wider community.
“(About) 54 per cent are determined at this point whether their organisations could support a private sector vaccination programme roll out while 51 per cent cannot say, at this point, if they can support the roll out for the wider community.
“CEOs find it increasingly important that a workforce that is vaccinated is a workforce that will be productive and they will achieve the safety standards that they desire ito make their businesses grow and move forward.
“However, CEOs have identified a large vaccine hesitancy community that’s out there.
“ And so there are challenges that lie ahead for CEOs and managers in balancing that objective of a safer workforce and the use and application of vaccines in the workforce.”