Goroka Provincial Hospital is overwhelmed with a COVID-19 surge leaving the provincial COVID-19 response team scrambling for solutions.
An urgent meeting of the Provincial COVID-19 Response team held today has announced a 12-hour curfew is imminent and would start on Friday 01st of October at 5pm and ends at 6am.
The response team headed by the provincial administrator, John Gimiseve said the curfew is a response to the increase in COVID-19 cases in EHP.
Eastern Highlands is classified as one of the high risk provinces and has been well prepared for the pandemic, however with the arrival of the new Delta Variant the facilities have now proven inadequate.
Reliable sources reported that within September alone, the province has recorded 40 deaths due to COVID-19, not including the two that passed away this morning at the Goroka General Hospital.
The hospital’s COVID-19 facility is full to capacity and the authorities are unable to contain the inflow of patients with symptoms of COVID-19. Tests have been sent to Australia to determine whether the new cases are Delta Variant.
Earlier in the year, the province also experienced a similar surge with 40 deaths also recorded between April-May, but with the strategic response of the EHP Provincial Health Authority, the spread of the virus and infections was contained.
The cause of the surge is not clear but the statistics are alarming. Goroka hospital has now scaled down on operations and will only attend to emergency cases.
The Out Patients Department is closed and the public will be referred to the urban clinics in town.