2 from India, 1 each from Indonesia, Fiji tested positive

By LULU MARK
THE 111 people who arrived on the Garuda Indonesia flight two weeks ago are all under strict quarantine in Port Moresby hotels, National Pandemic Response deputy controller Dr Daoni Esorom says.
Dr Esorom said only five people on the flight GA-7610 had approved documents that were valid after the approved new measures came into effect on July 2 to come to Papua New Guinea.
He said some of the others got approval prior to the July 2 measures, but these approvals had to be validated again, which did not happen, so when they arrived, they had to be managed.
A head-count of passengers revealed that only 111 had arrived and not 114 on Aug 19, he said.
Dr Esorom told The National that validation of arrival papers was conducted again.
“All of them are now in quarantine in four quarantine facilities in Dogura, Dokata, Airways and at Red Sea at Napa-Napa,” he said.
Dr Esorom said tests were done on the first day and they detected four positive cases – two from India and one each from Indonesia and Fiji.
Two cases were picked from the Delhi-Jakarta sector, one from the Jakarta-Pom sector and one case – a Fijian – who was picked up in Fiji and disembarked in Port Moresby (return flight).
“We repeated the tests (on those quarantined) last week on day seven and the good news is all of them have turned out to be negative,” Dr Esorom said.
“In the next few days, we will do the 14-day test on all 111.
“We will also be doing tests on day 20 to clear them on day 21.
“We will not approve anyone to leave on day 14.”