There are warnings of a “health catastrophe unfolding in real-time” in Papua New Guinea, as the territory’s already-stretched health system grapples with a fast-growing coronavirus outbreak.
PNG has recorded hundreds of coronavirus cases in the past few weeks and reported 49 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, increasing the country’s official tally to 1,741.
There have been 21 deaths in the country, according to the tally, most of which have come in recent weeks.
Jonathan Pryke, the director of the Lowy Institute’s Pacific Islands Program, said PNG has been “been very lucky” since the onset of the pandemic.
“COVID has been in the community [but] life has really continued as largely as normal. Their luck has run out in the last few weeks,” he told SBS News.
Port Moresby General Hospital has reportedly seen 40 per cent of mothers admitted to the labour ward test positive for the virus. Source: Google Maps
“Experts on the ground are saying whatever numbers you're seeing, add a zero to the end and that's probably the more realistic picture, because of just how little testing has been done.”
On Tuesday, Prime Minister James Marape said there was evidence of “large community transmission” in the National Capital District surrounding the capital Port Moresby, where health workers have been testing positive to the virus.
Pamela Toliman, a senior research fellow at the Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research, said it was difficult to determine exactly what led to the sudden spike in cases due to limited testing, which has to date focused on people already showing symptoms.
"Over the last 12 months ... the testing across the country hasn't been where we would hope it would be," she told SBS News.
Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea James Marape. Source: Getty
"We probably did the best with what we can, but without doing widespread testing across all provinces, it's really hard to explain."
PNG has granted approval for the AstraZeneca vaccine and the government on Tuesday announced it had secured 200,000 doses from Australia and 70,000 from India, the rollout of which would begin “hopefully by April”.
But Mr Pryke said time is of the essence and called on Australia to “dig into its own pockets” and help get vaccines to PNG sooner.
“This is not an issue that can be dealt with in four to six weeks when AstraZeneca arrives via [other countries]. Australia is lucky in that we have handled the pandemic so well we're in a privileged position to be able to put our own needs aside. We are protected,” he said.
“We could be able to show some leadership in our region and redirect some of the vaccines that we already have. The number [of vaccines] wouldn't be dramatic … we are just talking about around 5,000 health workers.
“These people are irreplaceable and they are the ones who are getting exposed to the virus. They need the vaccine as quickly as possible because they are dealing with this health catastrophe unfolding in real-time.”
International Development and Pacific Minister Zed Seselja said the government was watching the situation in PNG “closely and with concern” and was providing financial and logistical support.
“Ultimately, PNG’s health security and economic recovery are closely linked to our own and Australia will continue to support PNG on both,” he said.
Push for more testing
While PNG appears to have avoided the worst of the pandemic by global standards, there are concerns about clusters in several provinces and the lack of widespread testing.
As of last week, only 50,000 tests had been carried out in the nation of some nine million since the pandemic began.
"There were just over 2,000 tests that had been done in the last week and there were 359 positives, so that's around 17 per cent," Dr Toliman said.
"If that continues to increases, which we're feeling that it is ... if you consider that we have a health system that is quite strained and that's under-resourced, that is a huge challenge."
While several more remote regions with limited public health facilities are trying to get outbreaks under control, the capital is where the biggest caseload remains.
The city's general hospital has also reportedly seen , who have had to share wards with other women in the facility because there is no isolation area.
"Port Moresby General Hospital is the biggest hospital in the country, if they are overwhelmed the fear is this will happen and replicate in other provinces and we might not be able to cope with that," Dr Toliman said.
"It's very important that we don't sound like it's all doom and gloom, there's certainly efforts in place and people are working very hard, but it's balancing that with being real about the challenges ahead."
Meanwhile, there are concerns the burial ceremony of PNG’s first prime minister, Michael Somare, could become a super-spreader event, with tens of thousands expected to attend the ceremony on Friday.
The government has been working with the World Health Organisation to try and make the event COVID-safe.
Luo Dapeng, a WHO representative in PNG, said it was “fitting” to mourn the loss of Sir Michael, but that “it is important to do so safely”.
Concern in Queensland
The outbreak in PNG has sparked some concern in Australia, with Queensland recording a number of infections from PNG travellers in hotel quarantine over the past week.
“We are getting large numbers from PNG right now and we just want to make sure we are protecting our far north where we believe there is particular risk,” Queensland Health Minister Yvette D'Ath said on Monday.
A number of cases linked to a PNG mine last week caused Queensland to put a pause on passengers from the area flying in on charter flights.
On Wednesday, an influx of COVID-19 patients from PNG partly contributed to Cairns Hospital declaring its first Code Yellow in more than 18 months. The hospital has six patients with COVID-19 in isolation, all of whom travelled from PNG.
“All patients were detected with the virus in hotel quarantine, and transferred to the hospital as per usual processes, to prevent any risk of community infection," executive director of medical services Don Mackie said.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said vaccination hubs on Thursday and Saibai islands were a priority given the outbreak in PNG.
The government first flagged plans for a sped-up vaccination roll out for the islands neighbouring PNG last week.
"It's only a matter of kilometres, and there's a lot of trade and commerce that usually happens, and we are seeing more and more cases, unfortunately, in Papua New Guinea," Ms Palaszczuk said on Friday.
With AAP, Maani Truu.
