Peak of coronavirus cases in Papua New Guinea, health system on the brink

The coronavirus crisis that has hit Papua New Guinea continues to worsen, as the Indo-Pacific nation seriously awaits the arrival of vaccines.

In just one week – between March 22 and March 28 – 1,786 new cases of Covid-19 were reported and 13 deaths, according to the latest report from the World Health Organization and PNG’s national health ministry. .

The Joint Weekly Report says that as of March 28, at noon local time, the island nation reported a total of 5,349 cases and 49 deaths. It was the eighth consecutive week of increase.

Papua New Guinea is a heavily forested nation of less than 9 million people located about 160 km north of Australia at its closest point.

Prime Minister James Marape admitted last week that there was “unbridled community transmission”.

The situation on the ground in PNG is reportedly dire and international organizations such as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) have warned of an imminent collapse of the country’s overwhelmed health system.

“The health system in PNG is at risk of collapsing as health facilities handling COVID-19 are close to capacity and almost too stretched to provide regular basic health care,” MSF said.

The Pacific island state has only about 500 doctors, fewer than 4,000 nurses and fewer than 3,000 community health workers, according to data the prime minister shared in a speech to parliament last year. There are roughly 5,000 beds in hospitals, he added.

MSF, which provides humanitarian medical assistance to countries in crisis, said a growing number of healthcare workers in PNG have tested positive for Covid-19, forcing them to self-quarantine at home. Health facilities managing the outbreak are nearing capacity, resulting in longer wait times.

PNG also has relatively poor health indicators, according to Kate Schuetze, Pacific researcher at Amnesty International.

“We already have a poor health care system and you also have high levels of co-morbidities which are also going to impact the Covid-19 crisis,” Schuetze told CNBC on Wednesday. “So you have malaria in the country, you have multidrug-resistant tuberculosis as well as a whole range of other diseases that could worsen the impact of Covid-19.”

Large numbers of people also live in rural or remote communities where it is difficult to access the same level of health care as those living in urban centers. like Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea, she added.

According to the joint WHO and health department report, only 7,061 Covid tests were performed between March 22 and March 28, meaning 25.29% of those tests were positive.

Large-scale testing remains weak across much of the country and there is a shortage of testing kits as well as logistical challenges, the report notes. This suggests that the actual number of infections across the country may be considerably higher than what is officially reported.

As isolation rooms filled up in hospitals, PNG turned a sports complex into a temporary field hospital for Covid-19 patients.

MSF said on Friday it was supporting local health services by providing personnel and cartridges to analyze polymerase chain reaction samples. widely used tests to detect coronavirus. Nearly 40% of people tested in one of the health facilities have Covid-19, according to MSF. The organization expects more cases in the coming weeks.

MSF also said it only had enough test cartridges to last up to two weeks.

“Additional personal protective equipment, testing capacity and human resources must be considered quickly to provide assistance to the already strained health system,” said Ghulam Nabi, Acting Head of Mission for Papua New -Guinea to MSF, in a statement.

He added that MSF is calling on organizations in the region to act and mobilize quickly to increase their support for the Pacific nation.

PNG rolled out its vaccination campaign this week using the 8,000 doses of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine that Australia has donated.

The country Prime Minister Marape received his first dose on Tuesday, according to reports.

The growing nationalism of vaccines around the world makes it more difficult for small developing countries like PNG to access vaccines to immunize their populations.

Many of them rely on a global immunization initiative called Covax, which aims to ensure equitable distribution of vaccines in poorer countries. It is co-led by WHO, Gavi – Alliance for Vaccines and Coalition for Innovations in Epidemic Preparedness.

Amnesty International’s Schuetze said one of the challenges of setting up Covax is that too few countries donate enough money and resources, or provide enough vaccines, to ensure a more equitable distribution.

PNG is expected to receive approximately 588,000 doses of Covax vaccine by June.

Australia, for its part, has reportedly asked the European Union to release 1 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine in PNG. It was initially hired to go to Australia. Reuters reported last week that the EU had yet to respond to the request.

Canberra has also reportedly called on the United States, Japan and India – other members of the informal Quad Alliance – to help PNG.

Meanwhile, vaccine skepticism and the spread of misinformation complicate matters in the island nation. Opposition leader Belden Namah has reportedly called on the government to halt the deployment of the AstraZeneca vaccine, alleging it exposed citizens to serious potential harm.

The PNG government must do more to educate and inform the public about vaccines and health treatments on Covid-19, Amnesty Schuetze said.