Locking down Port Moresby under consideration

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Locking down Port Moresby under consideration

PORT MORESBY: A week after maintaining a strong stand against imposing a lockdown in the National Capital District, Governor Powes Parkop is singing a different tune.

On Thursday (Oct 21, 2021), Parkop warned that the NCD Commission (NCDC) is considering to lock down Port Moresby if the Coronavirus (Covid-19) infection level remained high and cases continue to surge.

PNG Cyber Monitor reproduces below a few news breaks on the Covid-19 surge in Papua New Guinea as reported by The National:

 

 

 

City facing lockdown

October 22, 2021The NationalMain Stories

By LULU MARK and GLORIA BAUAI
PORT Moresby faces a lockdown in the next few days if the Coronavirus (Covid-19) infection level remains high, and cases continue to surge, warns National Capital District Governor Powes Parkop.
“If the doctors tell me that we have to lock down because they cannot cope any more, then I will follow their advice,” he said.“
At this time we want to focus on strategies that can get us to do what we can to (achieve) the outcome we want, which is to reduce the infection (and) the transmission.
“I prefer that we (continue) the (vaccine) roll-out, get the people to understand the situation facing the city, the health system, (and) to do their part before we consider a lockdown.”
Port Moresby General Hospital (PMGH) chief executive officer Dr Paki Molumi said the Covid-19 steering committee was discussing what to recommend to Parkop about the lockdown plan.
Deputy chairman of the national health board Dr Mathias Sapuri suggests that a two-week nationwide lockdown right now is the only way to control the Covid-19 surge.
“The virus stops moving when people stop moving,” he said.
Parkop said the people must understand that the Covid-19 situation had reached a “crisis level” as the PMGH, St John Ambulance and the NCD Health Authority were under a lot of pressure, having to care for Covid-19 patients while maintaining normal health care services.
He said if the level of infection was not checked, and the number of cases showed no sign of decreasing “in the next two or three days, there would be no choice but to have a lockdown”.
“It’s not too far away. So it’s really up to our people now,” Parkop said.
“We have to do what we have to do”.
The NCDC spent between K8 million and K9 million during the earlier lockdowns when the first and second waves hit the country to support the enforcement of the public health safety measures, which was hard to do.
Dr Sapuri said Covid-19 measures alone would not stop the surge because people were still ignoring public health safety measures.
“The only way to break the cycle is by imposing a two-week nationwide lockdown,” he said.
“There is already so much pressure on major hospitals around the country. The number of Covid-19 cases is still going up. We are now diagnosing about 345 every day and the deaths are still climbing because of the Delta variant.”

Unvaccinated must test daily: NCDC

October 22, 2021The NationalMain Stories

By MIRIAM ZARRIGA
NATIONAL Capital District Commission (NCDC) employees who have not been vaccinated must undertake Coronavirus (Covid-19) tests daily, and must have a negative result to be allowed into the workplace, an official says.
City manager Bernard Kipit said it was the decision of the NCDC board to ensure the workplace was safe for all.
“They must take a Covid-19 test every day before going into work,” he said.
Kipit said strict compliance must be observed by the unvaccinated staff before entering City Hall.
NCDC has a ceiling of 700 employees. Only 300 have been fully vaccinated.
“Those unwilling to be vaccinated (will) get tested for the Covid-19.
“They (will be allowed in) to work if it is a negative result,” he said.
He said it was a requirement until an employer was fully vaccinated.
“Vaccination is a one-off.
“But if you (are not vaccinated) it is everyday testing,” Kipit said.
“The (daily) testing does not apply to those already vaccinated (who) have a clear path to the office.”
Kipit said coloured identification cards would be issued to all employees to identify those who had been vaccinated.
“Those who refuse to take a Covid-19 test will be asked to stay home for a minimum of two weeks before the Commission will (decide the next step),” Kipit said.
Kipit had talked to the employees who have not been vaccinated.
“A time frame has been set for all staff to be vaccinated.
“But should they still refuse to get vaccinated, they can get tested every day.”
His earlier directive had stated that unvaccinated staff would be taken off the payroll by Nov 1.
NCD Governor Powes Parkop said earlier protecting employees “against irresponsible employees is an important responsibility of the management and board”.

 

PMGH plans mass burial

October 22, 2021The NationalMain Stories

By MIRIAM ZARRIGA
A MASS burial is expected to be carried out this week or next week to ease the congestion in the Port Moresby General Hospital morgue, says chief executive officer Dr Paki Molumi.
The morgue has more than 300 bodies “stacked on top of each other”, he said.
More cargo containers are required as more people die during the current surge in Coronovirus (Covid-19) cases.
Hospital medical services director Dr Kone Sobi said the hospital normally carried out four mass burials a year, each costing between K25,000 and K35,000, depending on the number of bodies.
Dr Sobi said the mortuary was built about 30 years ago funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) to accommodate only 60 bodies.
National Capital District Governor Powes Parkop said the morgue was simply full.
“(There are) 300-plus bodies in the morgue.
“Three more containers have been provided to store bodies and a mass burial is being planned this week.
“People are dying on arrival and those who have died were in (proper medical) care in the hospital and the isolation centres,” he said. City manager Benard Kipit said City Hall would assist the hospital in ensuring that the logistical support was provided when a mass burial was carried out.

Delta active: Parkop

October 22, 2021The NationalMain Stories

By LULU MARK
THERE is active community transmission of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) and its Delta variant in Port Moresby so people should be vaccinated, officials says.
National Capital District (NCD) Governor Powes Parkop said of the city’s more than a million people, the target to be vaccinated was 40 per cent which was around 450,000 and of this 106,000 were above 18 years and could be vaccinated.
“The idea is to reach herd immunity outcome, that is if enough people are vaccinated they can provide protection to each other (and) break the surge,” he said.
“So far around 75,000 people have been vaccinated.
“The response is good and I want to encourage our people to continue to come forward.”
Parkop said there was adequate vaccine to reach that target level by December.
NCD Health Authority chief executive officer Dr Steven Yennie said so far 32,314 people had received the first dose of AstraZeneca and 16,812 the second dose while for 26,056 received Johnson and Johnson, a single-dose regime.
Dr Yennie said the cumulative was about 75,108 but the challenge to roll the vaccine was manpower.
Taking on board medical and nursing students was being considered.
He said more vaccination sites, including partnership with business houses and the corporate sector, would be established.
“For public, it’s important that you weigh the risk among yourselves if you have comorbidities,” he said. “You must get vaccinated.
“We are saying that vaccination is not compulsory but as it is now in the current surge of Delta, the risk for you to die from Covid-19 is substantially high.
“So it’s important that everyone must get vaccinated.”
He said the vaccination was open to anyone, was safe for pregnant women and was free.
He said for AstraZeneca two doses were required, J&J one and it was illegal at the moment to take any other dose.

St John at crisis level, says CEO

October 22, 2021The NationalMain Stories

By LULU MARK
THE only public ambulance service serving the people of National Capital District, Central and parts of Gulf is at a crisis level attending to an increasing number of Coronavirus (Covid-19) emergencies, an official says.
St John Ambulance chief executive officer Matt Cannon said ambulance cases had doubled and a large number of cases – about 50 per cent – were Covid-19-related with breathing problems.
“We are busy enough with the normal emergencies (such as) accidents and people getting sick at home, collapsing and all other things,” he said.
“(Then) you throw on top of that Covid-19.
“We are seeing a huge stretch on our resources.
“Just this (yesterday) morning, we had two serious incidents and we have all our ambulance out on the road.
“It takes up to two hours to clean an ambulance after a Covid-19 patient is transported and that means that we are using more ambulances than were available.
“The ambulance service is seeing a stretch.
“At the moment, we are seeing the Port Moresby General Hospital PMGH (PMGH) at 100 per cent capacity in Covid-19 wards.
“We are seeing ambulance queuing at the hospital trying to off-load patients and sometimes this can take hours. The doctors and nurses at PMGH and Nightingale Covid-19 Centre at the Taurama Aquatic Centre are doing everything possible to save lives.
“Unfortunately, there are so many patients and the severity of it is so great that it may not be possible to save everyone.”
Cannon said the Taurama Aquatic Centre was filling up with 46 patients, which was the total number of beds that they could adequately staff.
“The challenges we are facing are not enough nursing and medical staff here to cater for the increasing numbers of patients,” he said.
Cannon said St John lost a senior staff to Covid-19 on Monday night and two other staff, all with administrative roles, have been down with suspected Covid-19
He said because St John staff were frontline workers, 92 per cent were vaccinated with hope of reaching 100 per cent soon.

Over 2,800 new cases reported in past 3 weeks

October 22, 2021The NationalNational

By MIRIAM ZARRIGA
THE National Control Centre (NCC) says there was a significant increase in Coronavirus (Covid-19) infections last month and this month compared with the previous two months.
The centre said 2,868 new cases were diagnosed in the past 21 days, with the deaths reported at 325 or a 12.1 per cent mortality rate.
National Pandemic Controller David Manning said the trend needed to be interpreted with caution as there were delays and non-reporting by provinces back to NCC.
“The national positivity results stands at 12 per cent with an average monthly positivity at 6 per cent,” he said.
Manning said infections had spiked from last month which was reported between 20 and 25 per cent.
“In October, the test positivity is 45 per cent with about 4,000 people testing positive and that is a very significant jump,” he said
Deputy Controller Dr Daoni Esrom said the new cases and deaths were only received after they had received the case investigation forms and death certificates which often come late from the provincial health authorities.
“In this case, the three deaths had occurred seven to 14 days ago,” he said. “Although these cases were reported internally, the information could not be released until the CIFs and death certificates had been received as proof.
“Any deaths that have occurred outside of health facilities and have been reported verbally are not being included in the national database.”
Manning said the number of unreported deaths was a worry as the NCC did not know the extent of the impact of the virus.
While there are surges occurring in many parts of the country, most provinces are far from reaching the testing and vaccination targets set for this year with an exception of NCD which now has vaccinated 63,103 people, which is 48 per cent of its target population of 92,312.

Wong restricts visits to office

October 22, 2021The NationalNational

MINISTER for Health and HIV/AIDS Jelta Wong has confirmed that he is not allowing any unvaccinated person to visit his office.
He told The National that he was not taking any risk, with his first secretary down with the Coronavirus (Covid-19), “and I can’t take the risk”.
In an internal memorandum, he stated that he would not attend to anyone who was not vaccinated.
“All appointments are going to be thoroughly filtered,” he said.
“You are to provide your vaccination card prior to any engagement whether it be a meeting or delivery of any sort to my office.
“My staff and I come in contact with so many people on a daily basis, therefore, for safety and health caution for everyone, we have cut down the number of appointments.”

Covid-19 testing, vaccination rates low in PNG

October 22, 2021The NationalNational

DESPITE the surge in the Coronavirus (Covid-19) cases throughout Papua New Guinea, testing and vaccination rates were still low, according to the National Control Centre (NCC).
In a statement on Wednesday, NCC highlighted that National Capital District (NCD) vaccinated 63,103 people which was 48 per cent of its target population of 92, 312 for this year.
The rest of the provinces have covered between 1 and 12 per cent ‘fully vaccinated’. The fully vaccination coverage rates in the Highlands were as follows; Southern Highlands (1 per cent), Eastern Highlands and Chimbu (2 per cent), Western Highlands (4 per cent), Hela (3 per cent), Enga (5 per cent) and Jiwaka (6 per cent).
The coverage rates for Momase region; Morobe (5 per cent), West Sepik (3 per cent), Madang (4 per cent and East Sepik (6 per cent.
In the Southern region; NCD (48 per cent), Western (12 per cent), Gulf, Milne Bay and Central (3 per cent) and Northern (2 per cent).
New Guinea Islands: East New Britain (30 per cent), West New Britain (15 per cent), New Ireland (9 per cent), Manus (16 per cent) and Autonomous Region of Bougainville (5 per cent).
The cumulative total of people that have been fully vaccinated as of Sun, Oct 17, was 109,549. The number of people that have received only one dose stands at 183,856.
The figures for vaccination coverage (at least one dose received) is 10 per cent, and those who are fully vaccinated is 5 per cent as of Oct 17, 2021.
National Pandemic Response deputy controller Dr Daoni Esorom urged all frontline workers, including the health workers to consider vaccination to protect themselves and their families against the Covid-19. Dr Esorom said the statistics were clear.
“Health workers are getting infected every day,” he said.

 

Teachers avoiding tests over fear of stigma’

October 22, 2021The NationalNational

AN education official says the fear of being stigmatised is stopping teachers from going forward to be tested for Coronavirus (Covid-19).
PNG Teachers Association Momase president Mark Nanu said this was due to a lack of awareness to educate the public.
He said teachers from schools in Morobe that had reported Covid-19 cases were asked to go for testing, but many were reluctant for the fear of being confirmed Covid-19 positive.
He said schools needed proper awareness from health officials to clarify the concerns and questions around Covid-19, importance of contact tracing and Covid-19 protective measures.
Nanu said enforcing Covid-19 measures was still a challenge in schools.
“For my school, we have 55 to 60 students in one class and social distancing cannot be maintained,” he said.

 

Hospital needs more oxygen cylinders

October 22, 2021The NationalNational

THE Modilon General Hospital in Madang needs more oxygen cylinders to prepare for an expected increase in Coronavirus (Covid-19) cases, a doctor says.
“A lot of management treatment for Covid-19 involves oxygen,” emergency physician Dr Juith Gawi said yesterday. “We have to beef up our oxygen supply to support those unvaccinated individuals who come in with Covid-19.”
Dr Gawi said the only way to reduce the number of Covid-19 cases was for people to get vaccinated.
He said the unvaccinated were the ones who would become a burden to the hospital.
Dr Gawi also said the hospital did not have enough medical staff.
But he said they were dealing with this by hiring casuals.
“The surge in Covid-19 cases at the hospital has caused a backlog for our emergency department, with most of our workforce being an aging workforce,” Dr Gawi said.
Dr Gawi said funding should be allocated to recruit more causal workers to carry out vaccination coverage in all six districts of Madang.
He said they needed money to buy oxygen cylinders.
“The current manpower should be vaccinated and dealing with Covid-19 and other cases at the hospital” Dr Gawi said.

Deaths blamed on underlying medical condition

October 22, 2021The NationalNational

DEATHS from the Coronavirus (Covid-19) reported around the country have been blamed on underlying medical conditions and as a result of being unvaccinated.
Deputy National Pandemic Response Controller Dr Daoni Esorom said four groups of people must be vaccinated. The first group are frontline workers and essential workers; the second are those with an underlying medical conditions; the third are those over 45-years-old; and the fourth group are those above 18-years-old.
He said those over 45 with an underlying medical condition, and those not vaccinated were likely to be exposed to the Covid-19 Delta variant.
Dr Esorom said some patients who went to hospital and were told that they had the Covid-19 demanded that they be vaccinated.
“The moment you go to the hospital, you start having a cough, you have a shortness of breath, believe me there is queue of people lining up for oxygen, you might not have the opportunity to get the vaccine,” he said.
“The time to get the vaccine is when you are well. So please, I appeal to everybody to get yourself vaccinated.
You won’t regret it.”

 

Centre needs support to deal with surge: Parkop

October 22, 2021The NationalNational

THE Taurama Aquatic Centre and the Port Moresby General Hospital need support in dealing with the surge in Coronavirus (Covid-19) cases as they near “crisis point”, National Capital District Governor Powes Parkop says.
“At the Port Moresby General Hospital, the isolation ward is full to capacity and all available spaces in other wards have been taken over by Covid-19 patients as well,” he said.
He said 90 hospital staff who tested positive had been allowed to observe the minimum 14-day isolation period.
“They (centre and hospital) don’t have enough staff as a result and will face a crisis soon unless more are recruited,” he said.
Parkop said the National Capital District Health Authority was rolling out vaccinations and attending to other medical needs in the city.
“Medical staff are being requested by hospitals and health authorities in other provinces, placing lot of pressure on the existing capacity at Port Moresby General Hospital,” he said. Parkop said rapid tests on visitors and patients at the hospital showed that 15 per cent returned positive results.
Moresby North East is a hot spot in the city with high infection rates.
Already, 75,182 people aged 18 and above had been vaccinated in the city.
The target is 160,000.

Hospital received 120 bodies, says doctor

October 22, 2021The NationalNational

THE Port Moresby General Hospital received the bodies of 120 people between Monday and Wednesday this week, believed to have died of the Coronavirus (Covid-19), says chief executive officer Dr Paki Molumi.
On Monday, 50 bodies were brought to the hospital mortuary, followed by 40 on Tuesday and 30 on Wednesday.
“The number of (sick) people coming to the hospital has increased, and the number of deaths has increased (too),” he said.
“We are now in a situation where we (not only) have to look after the living to save their lives, but also to manage the dead.”
Dr Molumi said the surge “does not discriminate against anyone”.
He warned that the Covid-19 Delta variant was affecting children too.
“Three children have died from the Covid-19. This is not right,” he said.
He also is facing the shortage of manpower in the hospital.
“More hospital staff are coming down with the Covid-19,” he said.
“I have 52 nurses and 42 medical staff infected and isolated at home.”
He said the third surge of the Delta variant “is very aggressive”.
“We are seeing a lot of older people getting affected.
Since Sept 27, three out of 10 people who had Covid-19 symptoms tested positive.
“Now eight out of 10 are tested positive,” Dr Molumi said.
He said hospital staff who were supposed to be there to manage those gasping for air were sick themselves.
“This is the situation we are in.
“We will work with the (Taurama centre) to offload some patients at the hospital to ease the burden.”