Only Cargo uplifted on International Flights- Not Passengers : Air Niugini

Work has begun on the ground in Kokopo East New Britain to gather more information and details of the woman who had contracted the coronavirus, bringing the country's total of confirmed cases to two-so far.

A team of public health specialists, including an expert from the World Health Organisation, were airlifted into Kokopo late yesterday afternoon to gather more information and also do further testing.

Executive Director, Public Health with the Department of Health, Dr. Daoni Esorom said the initial part of their work on the ground is crucial.

"Initial samples from the close contacts of the confirmed case in Kokopo would be sent to Port Moresby for testing and that would be very interesting to us.

"In the event that any of the samples are tested positive, then we are talking about the cluster.

So what we are trying to do now with the second confirmed case is we are trying to establish whether there is a cluster amongst her contacts, because to us controlling and containing the cluster is very important in terms of what we call community transmission.

"And if there is a cluster, that whole village will be under complete lockdown", said Dr. Esorom.

NBC News /PNG Today

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Only Cargo uplifted on International Flights- Not Passengers : Air Niugini