COVID-19

Officer-in-Charge of the Criminal Investigation Division at Boroko police station, Chief Inspector Charles Winuan, said police had collected several fingerprints at the crime scene and are still working on this to prove who committed the offences.
 
Police have alleged that it was an inside job because access cards were used to gain entry into the building. 

Police are now investigating the matter. They believe it is an inside job. The matter was reported by an employee at NCC, who said the computer set including relevant hardware, were taken.

The equipment was taken from the workstation of the Executive Assistant to the Deputy Controller and Incident Management officer.

Two weeks ago, Papua New Guinea experienced its fifth wave of COVID-19 infection with over 46,284 cases and 600 deaths recorded as of 8 December 2022.

New Ireland Province has had 50% positivity rate in the number of samples that tested for Covid-19 since November 2022 at the Kavieng General Hospital.

Deputy Controller, Dr. Daoni Esorom and 5 staff from the National Covid-19 Control Centre were in New Ireland Province from the 19th - 24th of December, 2022 to support the New Ireland Provincial Health Authority (PHA) to respond to the Covid-19 Surge.

Key points:

• Chen Erzhen says his hospital in Shanghai sees 1,600 emergency admissions daily, with 80 per cent COVID-19 patients
• Chinese officials are bracing for rising numbers in rural areas as Lunar New Year approaches 
• More than a dozen countries have imposed restrictions on travellers from China

The steep rise in infections came after years of hardline restrictions were abruptly loosened last month, with little warning or preparation, and quickly overwhelmed hospitals and crematoriums.

This was the directive issued in the revocation of previous measure number 2, under National Pandemic Act 2021, on 4^th of August, by the National Pandemic Controller, David Manning.

Under the new Measure No 2, a person is considered fully vaccinated if they have received:

Deputy Controller Dr Daoni Esorom sent this message out to the public during the election period, as cases of the new Omicron variants BA.275, BA.4 and BAS continues to increase in globally.

"We are at a stage where the Omicron sub variant of BA.4 and BA. 5 are becoming more transmissible and as the potential to evade human immune system," Dr Daoni said.

He said with the low vaccination rates and testing happening in the country people must practice public health safety measures.

The National Pandemic Response Controller, David Manning has approved for three additional Covid-19 Antigen Rapid tests kits for Covid-19 screening in the country.

The three new COVID-19 rapid tests kits are Singclean Antigen RDT, Lookspot Antigen RDT and Flow Flex Antigen RDT for SARS Cov-2 screening and diagnosis Deputy Controller Dr Daoni Esorom said.

“Quality diagnosis of diseases is crucial as it ensures appropriate clinical intervention was undertaken by the Central Public Health Laboratory (CPHL) in 2021 to ensure that process is carried out,” Dr Daoni said.

They also will not be required to produce Covid-19 proof of vaccination at check-in.

Likewise, PNG citizens who have chosen not to be vaccinated are also now able to travel from Australia to PNG (and return).

“With the world now moving to relax many of the Covid-19 restrictions, this signals a return to the freedom to travel that we all enjoyed in the past,” said Paul Abbot, Air Niugini’s General Manager (GM) Commercial.

Despite the recent closure of the NCD Provincial Health Authority COVID-19 activities, the center is still releasing daily updates that are circulated widely, and managing the national pandemic response.

The NCC has 11 clusters fully operational. These include Incident Management, surveillance & rapid response, laboratory, risk communication and community engagement (RCCE), Niupla Pasin, Clinical Management, Infection, Control and Prevention, Vaccine and testing, Partner Coordination, Provincial Response Coordination and Call Centre.

Deputy Pandemic Controller Dr Daoni Esorom says that the country is still in the pandemic and people still have to comply with the COVID-19 protocols to protect themselves and others against COVID-19. This includes getting vaccinated.

“We are working on the country recovery strategies that will be put in place post-election. It is important to note that all our four surges have been due to some national gathering, the election is a super spreader event, and we expect a surge during or after the election,” Dr. Daoni said.