Morobe COVID-19 Update

Morobe Province has seen dramatic reduction in the incidences of COVID-19 cases in the month of May.

In March and April, the province was hard hit with increased cases and a number of deaths.

The Morobe Provincial Health Authority reported 594 cases in April, while the number dropped by more than half in May to 273.

No deaths were recorded in the month of May.

The cumulative total in April was 931 and May ended cumulatively with 1,264.

The influenza or seasonal flu outbreak starts from December, peaks off and slowly reduces at the end of April and May the next year. The Health Authority believes that COVID-19 may have followed a similar seasonal calendar, as indicated by the current trend.

“On the other side, less people are coming for tests may be due to myths, rumours and misinformation surrounding COVID-19 and the vaccine rollout in the month of May 2021,” stated the MoPHA.

Table one: The list of health facilities in Morobe Province doing swabbing and/or testing in the month of May

#	Name of Health facility	District	Swabbing and types of SARSCOV2 test done			Remarks
			AgRDT	GeneXpert	PCR
1	Buimo HC	Lae	Yes			Requests for gene and PCR at times
2	Buimo CIS clinic	Lae	No	No	No	Only swabs for PCR/GeneXpert
3	Tent City	Lae	No	No	No	Only swabs for PCR/GeneXpert
4	Malahang	Lae	Yes	No	No	Requests for GeneXpert and PCR at times
5	Butibam	Lae	Yes	No	No	Requests for GeneXpert and PCR at times
6	Milfordhaven	Lae	Yes	No	No	Requests for GeneXpert and PCR at times
7	Lae International Hospital	Lae	No	No	PCR only	Private (LIH/PIH)
8	Entry Point Check (EPC) 11-Mile	Lae	No	No	PCR only	Sky Health Medical (SHM)
9	SIK stadium/Angau Hospital	Lae	Yes	Yes-Angau Pathology	No	Requests for PCR at times
10	Wampar HC	Huon District	Yes	No	No	Requests for gene and PCR at times
11	Ramu Agri Clinic	Markham	Yes	No	No	Request for both gene and PCR
12	Morobe HC	Huon District	Yes	No	No	Yet to request for GeneXpert/PCR
13	Boana HC	Nawaeb District	Yes	No	No	Requests for gene and PCR at times
14	Situm HC	Nawaeb District	Yes	No	No	Requests for gene and PCR at times
15	Torowa HC	Nawaeb District	No	No	No	Only swabbing for GeneXpert/PCR
16	Bulolo Rural Hospital	Bulolo	Yes	No	No	Requests for gene and PCR at times
17	Entry Point Check Bulolo	Bulolo	No	No	Yes	Private
18	Entry Point check Wau	Bulolo	No	No	Yes	Private
19	Menyamya HC	Menyamya	Yes	No	No	Requests for gene and PCR at times
20	Mutzing Health Centre	Markham District	Yes	No	No	Requests for gene and PCR at times
21	Braun Memorial Hospital	Finschhafen	Yes	No	No	Requests for gene and PCR at times
22	Etep Rural Hospital, Wasu	Tewae Siassi	Yes	No	No	Requests for gene and PCR at times
23	Lablab Health Center, Siassi	Tewae Siassi	Yes	No	No	Requests for gene and PCR at times
24	Busaung HSC	Kabwum	Yes	No	No	Start testing this week
25	Derim HC	Kabwum	Yes	No	No	Start testing this week

COVID-19 PREVALENCE IN MOROBE

Table2: Shows Morobe PHA's stakeholders in the COVID-19 Pandemic Response and the outcome of the team work that led to Morobe’s prevalence in the month of April and May 2021

Months	April 2021			May 2021			Grand Total
Sites/test	Lae International Hospital	Sky Health Medical Services	Ramu Agri Industries Clinic	Lae International Hospital	Sky Health Medical	Ramu Agri Industries	Grand Total
Total tests	483	5746	26	378	10,154	133	16,920
	483	5746	26	378	10,154	133	16,920
Positives tests	46	211	3	30	316	28	634
Negatives tests	436	5535	19	348	9838	105	16281
Inconclusive tests	0	0	3	0	0	0	3

Tags:

Morobe Provincial Health Authority

Author:

Press release