Comments

Thanks Ben for the insights. Charles Campbell Toxinology could be asked to help. You guys did some of the most advanced studies on developing Snake antivenoms, and your guys expertise will help. Especially in tests and experience over the years. We need all the help we can get from our local scientists.

All along, the disaster and emergency officials have been right in advocating on the statement: "The cost of inaction far outweighs the cost of proactive planning."

Some of our people are not taking this situation seriously, we have some people currently in Indonesia and few are kept in Boram hospital for isolation where three people escaped from isolation making it very to hard contain the virus if they are positive. This message goes to all the good citizens, please follow instructions and we keep PNG safe

Scientific workers are worthy of our respect. It is their silent efforts that provide us with treatment methods and better guarantee of our lives.

My family live in the Philippines and my wife and i are in Australia. i am a Philippine resident which i applied for and i am a Australian as well. I send money to my family as well to help them get food and all other things they need. It is a country in poverty.

Reading through the situation report is very stressful and given the current scenario our borders and international flights should be completely locked down for the next 90 days and that's how serious it gets when one takes into account the government and the country's ability to fight COVID-19. The challenge is unthinkable.

The US healthcare system is the one that needs reforming. As the number one economic power in the world it is a disgrace that we have the most people affected by covid-19. If we cannot even help our people we have no right to criticize others.

Due to our lack in many areas, the government's swift response to declare SoE and 14 days lock down was and is the only best way for us to avoid and contain the virus. We don't have the cure, nor proper isolation areas with adequate bed space, ventilation equipment, and even personal protective equipment (PPEs) for clinicians to use. That's the main reason why the nurses went on strike recently. It's a sad case at Pom Gen Hospital when they ran out of proper masks, gloves and hand sanitizer. The clinicians can work but they need to protect themselves also. The right mask to use is the N95 mask, which I last heard from a nurse was going for K100 on backmarket. Our clinicians unfortunately are using the surgical masks which are not quite effective against the virus. To make a hand sanitizer (WHO recommend), we'll need ethanol (or isopropyl alcohol), hydrogen peroxide and glycerol. Last week Monday I found a 125ml of glycerol which I made 5L of hand sanitizer and gave to the Pom Gen triage team, who are at the forefront of receiving patients. We've also given few of our snakebite equipment to the covid-19 team to use till they purchase their equipment. They are yet to buy equipment for covid-19 isolation camps. But it all depends on when the gov't secures funds. Above all, let's all do the best we can to help avoid viral infection. Washing hands and staying at home is paramount. It's also an eye-opener for the gov't to start investing in building local capacity in research, science and technology (RST), and not only on the extractive industry. The inconsistent results due to faulty equipment at IMR is a typical recipe for disaster. We need up-to-date state of the art equipment to get best results first hand and not after a series of inconsistent results. In such cases of national and global interest, there should be no room for error. The last I read was that the virus has mutated and now have strain S and strain L. (My opinion: If a local PNGan gets infected, and if it mutates to suit our genome, that's another story.) I'm entitled to my opinion and its not to put fear into anyone or any institution. Finally, it's possible to locally develop the test kit if we have the right equipment and capacity. Currently, they are trying to analyze samples using the real-time PCR machine at the IMR lab at UPNG Medical School. That's good news and I'm hoping this works. I salute the medical doctors and nurses who are out their working including lab techs of IMR and hospitals. For now, let's stand with our PM and pray and hope that no local would be infected with this virus. It's a death spirit working through fear, and we must conquer it first through prayer. God Protect Papua New Guinea.

I salute our prime minister for taking a bold step in declaring SOE in PNG immediately. It is still unclear yet the status of COVID-19 in our country, therefore we hope the Government in its upcoming sitting would extend the SOE. And this time really making sure that citizens are all locked down taking seriously this epidemic.... May God help us.

PNG Government has taken a full consideration of its people by declaring the SOE promptly. Oh what a caring government of the day! God is with PNG!

Compare Last years death rate from month ending March to This years March ending, and see if the death rate have increased count this year. This will confirm if we might actually have active cases in PNG. A call for a review on post mortems on relevant bodies deceased by a contributing symptom to the COVID-19 virus – if this can be done then the families of the identified deceased would be known as persons of interests.

Hi guys thanks for the comments, and update on the stats: 15 of the 16 people who had direct contact with the xo formed case have tested negative. 29,000 people entered PNG from overseas from January till the lockdown on 24 March. More than 2000 persons monitored in Port Moresby, and almost all 22 provinces have persons of interest being monitored. Some high risk areas include the PNG-Indonesian border, but also tourism hotspots like Tufi and Kokoda in Oro Province, Kimbe and Milne Bay. Oro has 11 persons of interest being monitored. Details have not been released, but those vulnerable would be villagers and rest house owners along the 96km Kokoda trail, and Tufi Dive Resort employees - these two combined have the highest tourist visits per year in PNG. On a different note, US & Indonesia underreported the cases until tests increased, revealing high numbers. We hope that is not the case with PNG.