Coronavirus

Chief Medical Officer for the COVID-19 State of Emergency, Dr Sam Yockopua, announced that 40 volunteers have been selected and have begun training on Monday, 31st March, and should be ready to begin work with the State of Emergency medical team by this Friday.

Dr Yockopua said one third of them have health care backgrounds and include students, medical, health care workers, adding more will be engaged if the need arises.

In a statement, BAT says if the testing by bio-tech subsidiary, Kentucky BioProcessing (KBP) goes well, between 1 and 3 million doses of the vaccine could be manufactured per week, beginning in June.

The multinational company said while KBP remains a commercial operation, the intention is that its work around the Covid-19 vaccine project will be carried out on a not for profit basis.

The vaccine in development uses BAT’s proprietary, fast-growing tobacco plant technology which has several advantages over conventional vaccine production technology:

He said people in the province need to begin growing their own food and raise livestock for self-sustenance as well as to potentially supply Port Moresby or other centers.

Agarobe made the call in an update on COVID-19 measures undertaken by the Provincial Government.

Governor Agarobe said the current State of Emergency has shown how a crisis lockdown can affect food supply chains to and from the Province.

He said with the current wet weather, locals need to toil the land in anticipation of a shortage of food stocks both processed and local produce.

Prime Minister James Marape, when giving his speech on the floor of Parliament, said the extension will ensure that we mitigate potential harm that the spread of the virus may cause and to allow Government agencies to implement urgent and ongoing measures to protect the people.

The Prime Minister said we cannot assume the virus has not reached our shores, urging everyone to be realistic.

He added that the Government will continue to put in place measures to contain and limit any possible infection and protect and safeguard all PNG citizens.

Speaking in Parliament this afternoon, Treasurer Ian Ling-Stuckey said: “This is the largest economic stimulus package in our history because this is the greatest economic and social challenge in our history.

“The package is based on smart economic stimulus options with minimum impacts on the budget and maximum gains for our people and economy. The package is based on five principles and has six key components. Further announcements on measures will be made in coming days.

The PNG Judiciary have initiated an online case management system called ‘IECMS for Judiciary of Papua New Guinea’ to deal with the filing of urgent applications during this lockdown period.

“Plans to prevent and respond to the virus must urgently move forward before it gains a foothold in conflict zones,” the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has warned. 

“COVID-19 represents a major threat to life in countries with strong health systems. But the threat is even greater in places where health systems have been ravaged by war, where people uprooted by conflict live in close proximity, and where life-saving resources like clean water, soap and medicine are in short supply.

After visiting Rita Flynn facility and Gerehu General Hospital yesterday, Governor Parkop said he was not satisfied with the preparedness of the establishments.

“As Chairman of our Provincial Task Force Response Team and Governor of our city, I am giving a direction now that we put all effort to have the facility at Rita Flynn to be able to accept a small number of potential patients by tonight. We cannot delay any further,” he stated.

The PNGDF engineers were in the province under the Government’s sanctioned project, the Madang-Baiyer road.

They operate out of Iome in Middle Ramu and Songaram in the Madang district.

Governor Yama clarified that the involvement of PNGDF engineers in the COVID-19 with the Response Team is not illegal as claimed.

He said it is the same arrangement in which the PNGDF element have in the last rotation where they were used for the natural disaster during the Manam Island volcano relief effort.

Governor Peter Yama made the bold move to declare a 14-day lock-down in the province prior to the Government’s State of Emergency announcement.

Head of Madang Province COVID -19 Response Command Center, Dr Juith Gawi is greatful to the Madang Governor taking that step to put Madang on lock-down immediately after the announcement of the first coronavirus case in PNG.

A checkpoint has been set up along the North Coast highway in Bogia, to screen emergency patients coming from the district.