Covid-19: 22 teachers dead in two months

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Covid-19: 22 teachers dead in two months

PORT MORESBY: Twenty-two teachers in Eastern Highlands died from Coronavirus (Covid-19) in two months (September to November), provincial education director Albert Wesley says.

Besides the deaths, Eastern Highlands health authority chief executive officer Dr Joseph Apa also confirmed that a total of 168 people died from the highly infectious and deadlier Covid-19 Delta variant in the past two months.

On the back of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Delta threat, the Government is also preparing to to face a possible arrival of the new global Covid-19 Omicron variant.

PNG Cyber Monitor reproduces below a few updates on Papua New Guinea’s pandemic status as published by The National:

22 teachers dead

December 2, 2021The NationalMain Stories

By ZACHERY PER
TWENTY-TWO teachers in Eastern Highlands died from Coronavirus (Covid-19) in two months (September to November), provincial education director Albert Wesley says.
“Twelve were primary school teachers, three elementary teachers, four secondary and three from technical schools,” Wesley added.“The deaths were scary, forcing us to shut down schools,” he lamented.
“If I had taken no action, teachers in the province could have been wiped out.”
Wesley was speaking to teachers, school board members at Gama Lutheran Primary School at the opening of a four-in-one teachers duplex and students’ e-library building on Monday about the Covid-19 impact.
He said schools resumed classes after a three-week lockdown last month.
“However, the attendance by teachers and students was low,” Wesley said.
“It is understandable as life is priority.
“When full normalcy is restored in schools by early next year, teachers will provide remedial lessons for those absent and the lessons that they missed out during the Covid-19 surge.”
Besides the deaths, Eastern Highlands health authority chief executive officer Dr Joseph Apa also confirmed that a total of 168 people died from the highly infectious and deadlier Covid-19 Delta variant in the past two months. Dr Apa said the Covid-19 surge started on Sept 3 and ended last week, claiming many lives and impacted the local economy and the people.
“The surge in infections and deaths had us reeling in efforts to stop the surge,” he said, adding that only four Covid-19 patients remained in the hospital isolation wards today.
He said only two patients were warded with the Covid-19 in the last two days.
Dr Apa said the deaths had jolted the people to adhere to the New Normal public health protocols that helped stop the surge.
On the back of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Delta threat, the Government is also preparing to face a possible arrival of the new global Covid-19 Omicron variant.
National Pandemic Response Controller David Manning, who is also Police Commissioner, assured the nation that a careful watch was in place for Omicron.
Health Minister Jelta Wong and deputy pandemic response controller Dr Daoni Esorom were not available for comment on the status of the pandemic, especially in Eastern Highlands.

Be vigilant, official says

December 2, 2021The NationalMain Stories

PAPUA New Guinea must be prepared and ready for Omicron and other emerging variants of the Coronavirus (Covid-19), a senior health official says.
Deputy pandemic response Controller Dr Daoni Esorom said Omicron was first detected in South Africa last Wednesday but there were still many unknowns about it.
The early signs, he said, were that it could be more transmissible but it was still not known what risks it posed to public health.
“Compared to other variants, Omicron has more than 32 mutations, Beta has nine mutations and Delta has nine on their spike proteins that helps them to bind on the human cells,” Dr Esorom said.
“Key information such as the transmissibility, infectivity, severity of infections, its ability to re-infect people and its outcomes on fully vaccinated people are still unknown.
“We have more questions yet to be answered on the effectiveness of current tests, therapeutics and on vaccines on this new variant.”
Despite not having much information yet about Omicron, Dr Esorom warned that the country needed to be vigilant.
“We must be prepared and not panic,” he said.
“We have to be concerned but not to overreact and do what is right to keep the variant out and if it does enter the country, we have to do the right things to mitigate its impact.
Dr Esorom assured the country that the Covid-19 National Control Centre team was working with its partners to ensure that the country’s borders were monitored and that appropriate quarantine and isolation measures would be implemented on people coming into PNG.
“We will adjust our testing strategies in order to detect cases and we are working with the Institute of Medical Research and a private laboratory in Port Moresby in order to undertake whole genomic sequencing to detect all the variants including those already identified including Alpha, Delta, Gamma and Omicron,” he said.
“PNG must have the whole genome sequencing technology and capability in order to support it.”
He said currently, PNG was sending its positive samples to the Doherty Institute in Melbourne to do the whole genome sequencing and that took between 3 and 4 weeks to get the results back.
“It’s a very slow turnaround time and by the time we get the results, it’s very late to even use the information except to include them in our data base.”