COVID-19

As of Tuesday, March 16^th, 22 health workers have contracted the virus.

A circular from the Morobe Provincial Health Authority said services have scaled down as of Friday March 12^th, particularly the Emergency Department and the Gware Wing.

“This will allow the hospital to clear these sites for re-use and clear the staff to resume duties,” said the chief executive officer, Dr Kipas Binga.

All outpatient treatments will be done at the urban clinics while only emergencies will be attended to at the ANGAU Emergency Department.

This will include restricting people’s movement but not affecting business or government services.

The Prime Minister said the country has moved into the ‘Red Stage’ of its COVID-19 Response preparedness.

The isolation strategy will be announced on Wednesday.

Marape said the strategy will not be a hard line lockdown approach.

Registrar Ian Augerea in a statement said the decision was reached following the surge of infection in the last two weeks in NCD and nationwide.

Four staff, including two judges, have tested positive to COVID-19.

The shutdown began today, Monday 15^th of March, and will be lifted on Friday 29^th March 2021.

In the meantime, judges will continue to work in their chambers or from home.

All cases listed for the next two weeks have been adjourned to March 30^th.

“I encourage people that there is no need to come. You can visit the grave site later,” Governor Bird said.

Earlier this month, Governor Bird raised concerns of COVID-19 community transmission, when thousand will gather in Wewak to welcome the late Grand Chief home. 

He stated that the town will be expecting 100 thousand plus Sepiks in Wewak, and 10 thousand more from other provinces – social distancing will be a problem in trying to exercise COVID-19 prevention measures.

A number of protocols have been issued recently on the management of deceased persons in the community safe funeral and mourning practices during COVID-19.

If restrictions prevent you from holding a gathering, consider alternatives such as delaying the ceremony, using digital tools to include others or setting a specific time when people simultaneously stop and remember the deceased from wherever they are.

There are some simple steps you can take to limit the risk of COVID-19, including:

A YouTube spokeswoman said the videos contradicted vaccine information from the World Health Organization (WHO) or health authorities such as the NHS.

In October, it banned vaccine misinformation in a bid to clamp down on attempts to discredit the jabs.

It added that in the past year, it had removed more than 800,000 videos for coronavirus misinformation.

That figure covers more than just vaccines, but wider "medically unsubstantiated" claims about the virus.

In a statement issued by Betha Somare this afternoon the Somare family home went onto lockdown as of Yesterday (March 5th). 

She said while they have been following COVID protocols the family thought it was prudent to be cautious in light of the increasing number of COVID cases in NCD, and arranged for COVID tests to be carried out last week on all family members and relatives that came to assist and grieve the passing of Sir Michael.

The seminar involved 11 participants representing 6 dioceses, Wabag, Goroka, Alotau, Mt Hagen, Lae, Kavieng, and Aitape, with two staff from the National Catholic Church Health Services.

The seminar was facilitated by the Social Communications Secretary, Fr Ambrose Pereira sdb, and the SOCOM team.

The seminar taught participants how they can effectively harness the use of print media and its essential elements to communicate the ‘Good News’ through their news stories and events happening within their diocese.

In February 2021, cases rose steeply, with 449 cases reported in the month of February alone, bringing the total to 1,365 with 14 deaths.

The World Health Organization has intensified collaboration with the Government as mass gatherings to commemorate the country’s founding prime minister threaten to accelerate already rising cases of COVID-19.

The result is 9.5% lower compared to 2019, driven by an increase in impairment expenses to K201.3m (+102.9%) due to the impact of COVID-19 across the Group.

In announcing the 2020 results, Sir Kostas Constantinou, OBE, Chairman of the BSP Board highlighted that notwithstanding the profit reduction, the result reflects a continuing strong underlying performance by BSP which has been able to withstand the significant adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic due to its strong balance sheet and prudent provisioning policies.