WHO fears much larger epidemic in Papua New Guinea
World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus has said that his organization is “very concerned” regarding the possibility of “much larger epidemic” in Papua New Guinea.
Ghebreyesus was giving his opening remarks at the COVID-19 media briefing on Friday.
After avoiding sweeping transmission, Papua New Guinea is one of those countries that are now witnessing a sharp increase in infections. The country had reported under 900 cases and just 9 deaths until the start of 2021. Now, it has confirmed over 9300 cases and 82 deaths.
“While these numbers are still smaller than other countries, the increase is sharp and WHO is very concerned about the potential for a much larger epidemic,” said the WHO DG. “There is large-scale community transmission in the capital Port Moresby and the Western Province, and all 22 provinces have now reported cases, although in the last two weeks we have seen some decline.”
Papua New Guinea started receiving COVID-19 vaccine in late March. Australia donated 8000 doses, while COVAX sent an additional 132,000 this week.
WHO has also sent experts to help the government of Papua New Guinea.
“Through WHO’s Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network, or GOARN, 13 experts have been deployed to support the government with case management, epidemiology, infection prevention and control, laboratory support and information management,” said the director-general.
He also shared the United States, Germany and Australia have also sent emergency medical teams and other countries are expected to do the same in the weeks to come.
Not just in Papua New Guinea, the COVID-19 situation is concerning all over the world. The global number of cases and deaths is continuing to increase, with new cases per week almost doubling over the last two months.
“This is approaching the highest rate of infection that we have seen so far during the pandemic,” said Ghebreyesus.
According to the statistics last provided by Worldometer (on Friday at 12:19 PM PT), the global number of coronavirus cases totals 140,303,282 with 3,006,485 deaths.
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