Wong Blasts Kapavore

Health Minister, Jelta Wong has condemned what he called reckless and misleading claims made by his predecessor on the number of COVID-19 related deaths in the country.

Minister Wong said Member for Pomio, Elias Kapavore and the Opposition are peddling fake news and showing total disregard for the lives and safety of citizens.

“Statement by the former Health Minister about the number of people recovering from COVID-19 is wrong,” he said.

This follows similar claims made my foreign anti-vaccination activists in other countries that have been discredited.

“The death rate for COVID-19 is not one per cent, as the Opposition claims with his misleading figure that one per cent of infected people have recovered.

“The anti-vaccination activists refuse to admit what everyone of us knows, and that is that there are many people dying from COVID-19 who are not included in official figures.”

These are deaths where the body was not tested, was not accurately reported because of community fears or the death was not reported to health authorities.

Minister Wong said the Morobe Provincial Health Authority has advised that the recovery rate for infected patients is as low as 90 per cent, meaning 10 per cent of COVID-19 patients have died.

“According to these nonsense figures peddled by opposition, the COVID-a9 death rate in Papua New Guinea is lower than countries such as Germany, which is a country with one of the best health care systems in the world.

“I hope that Mr Kapavore, a medical practitioner and a former Provincial Health Authority CEO, does not really believe the claims he is making and stop misleading the people.”

“The opposition should stop downplaying the COVID-19 infection threat as cases continue to rise, and stop politicizing vaccines because right now, we are staring death in the face.”

The Health Minister further expressed his disappointment in what he says, is the way Kapavore appears to dismiss COVID-related deaths.

“One of the concerning parts of the statement by Mr Kapavore is that he appears to dismiss the loss of Papua New Guinean lives as unimportant.”

“Every man, woman and child that dies from COVID-19 in our country is another precious life lost.

“Every person vaccinated is another life saved and opposition should stop this mischief that is causing people to be hesitant and lose their life if they delay vaccination.”

He said that all leaders need to respect the lives and health of our people and cannot be misled by anti-vaccination activists.

Author: 
Melissa Wokasup