Coronavirus

This has forced prices in markets to sky rocket since last week leaving residents with no choice but to bear with it.

Since the nationwide lock down by the Government, road blocks have been staged at the four entry points into Port Moresby forcing some fresh food resellers to bring in produce the hard way.

Women resellers at the Boroko market say they had to pay for private trucks and taxi’s to bring produce from the Bautama entry point into the city.

Susan Kale from Chimbu province said this is why their prices for have risen up.

The cheque was presented to the Foreign Affairs Minister and International Trade Minister, Patrick Pruaitch, at the Port Moresby General Hospital on Tuesday, March 31st.

Chinese Ambassador, Xue Bing, said PNG has been supporting the Chinese Government since the outbreak of Corona virus in Wuhan, China.

This is a reciprocal gesture to the PNG government.

The Bank of PNG will also make foreign currency available directly to the National Department of Health of urgent COVID-19 relocated purchases abroad.

This is among several monetary policy measure responses by the Central Bank to the impact of COVID-19.

Another key measure is the reduction of the Kina Facility Rate (KFR) from 5 percent to 3 percent which will push interest rates down.

Commercial Banks have been directed by the Central Bank to reduce their respective Indicator Lending rates (ILR).

KPHL recently presented K5 million, on top of a K100 million dividend payment for 2020, to the to the National Government to assist with preparedness to combat and contain Coronavirus in the country.

The presentation was made on Friday, March 27^th, 2020 by KPHL Managing Director Wapu Sonk.

The rapidly increasing demand on health facilities and health care workers threatens to leave some health systems overstretched and unable to operate effectively.

Previous outbreaks have demonstrated that when health systems are overwhelmed, mortality from vaccine-preventable and other treatable conditions can also increase dramatically. During the 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak, the increased number of deaths caused by measles, malaria, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis attributable to health system failures exceeded deaths from Ebola [1,2]. 

He said the Government is now planning on making more investments into tghe health sector post-COVID-19.

“I’m announcing to the country, I’m looking at life beyond coronavirus.

“The coronavirus has given us an opportunity to make good interventions in our health sector, something that we have taken for granted and we have left it to erode over a long period of time,” said the Prime Minister.

He added “I remember when SARS was a global pandemic, we never had proactiveness to respond in ensuring that our health system is prepared with this matter.

In a statement on Monday, USA Rugby said the impact of COVID-19 has accelerated existing financial issues after voting to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy.

USA Rugby suspended sanctioned competition and rugby activities indefinitely on March 20 due to the coronavirus crisis.

The American union will undergo a restructuring process with input from World Rugby, while the United States' men's and women's senior national teams will continue to compete as normal when the sport returns.

The betel-nut bags were intercepted by police on Sunday, March 29^th, when being smuggled into Port Moresby by three boats.

There is currently a ban on the sale and chewing of betel-nut under the current State of Emergency.

Following a tip off, Water Police intercepted three boats smuggling betel-nut into Port Moresby, late on Sunday afternoon.

The confiscation is part of the implementation of the State of Emergency in which the sale and chewing of betel-nut has been banned in the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

But despite its efforts, it is still effectively locked out of membership in the World Health Organization (WHO) due to its complex relationship with China.

This all exploded over the weekend when a top WHO official appeared to avoid questions about Taiwan in a TV interview that has gone viral, attracting criticism and even accusations of bias.

What happened?

On Saturday, Hong Kong broadcaster RTHK aired an interview with Bruce Aylward, the WHO assistant director-general, who spoke to journalist Yvonne Tong on a video call.

Why? Washing your hands with soap and water or using alcohol-based hand rub kills viruses that may be on your hands.

Maintain social distancing

Maintain at least 1 metre (3 feet) distance between yourself and anyone who is coughing or sneezing.

Why? When someone coughs or sneezes they spray small liquid droplets from their nose or mouth which may contain virus. If you are too close, you can breathe in the droplets, including the COVID-19 virus if the person coughing has the disease.