Churches follow govt instruction

The National Main Stories

By BRADLEY MARIORI
CHURCH services will be suspended from Sunday as a directive from the Government.
The Evangelical Lutheran church of PNG has taken that into consideration with head bishop Rev Dr Jack Urame saying they would advise their congregations.
“We have to act together as a nation,” he said.
“But we encourage families to remain together and have family devotions, read their Bibles and the pastors to spend time praying for the congregations.
“Suspending services does not mean to deny the right of people from expressing their faith and freedom of religion but rather the gathering and congregating should be discouraged in the next two weeks.
“This is in line with the Government’s approach.
“We are taking necessary steps at the head office – we will downsize staff with only key staff to remain.”
Rev Urame did raise some concerns over the messages and information being sent out to the people.
“The biggest challenge we are facing is giving the people the right message and how to respond because people have already received all kinds of rumours and some are scared,” he said.
“Some are panicking and worried about the disease because it is completely new.
“That is why giving them the right information is very important.
“We urge people not to panic, not to be frightened and worried because coronavirus is one of many diseases and we have to take it as it is.
“Even though there is no vaccine yet, we hope that people will contribute towards prevention.
“That is the most important concern at the moment.”
Meanwhile, the Seventh-day Adventist church has closed office as a preventative measure.
President Ps Kepsie Elodo said following the Government’s state-of-emergency announcement, the church head office in Lae and its local mission and conference offices across the country would close today and reopen on April 14.
Pr Elodo said all church-operated schools, including the Sonoma Adventist College, would be shut.
However, all church-run health facilities would remain open.

Risky business … It was business as usual yesterday for betel nut vendor Ethy Uta (wearing face mask) in Port Moresby. The West New Britain health authority chief executive officer Stanis Tao said betel nut chewing and spitting indiscriminately in PNG is an unhealthy habit and risky in the context of Covid-19. – Nationalpic by JASON KAVAN

Airspace ‘90pc empty’, proves plans in place

By PETER ESILA
THE PNG airspace is 90 per cent empty, which confirms measures put in by countries, including PNG, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
PNG Air Services Ltd (PNGASL) managing director and chief executive Capt Ted Pakii told The National yesterday that only military, charter and cargo planes were flying through the PNG airspace.
“Our overflying international traffic numbers are usually between 50 and 60 flights a day,” he said.
“This number has reduced by more than half so far this month and will continue to reduce further as more and more airlines suspend their international operations.”
Capt Pakii said PNGASL was a self-funding commercial aviation enterprise with 80 per cent of its total revenue coming from charges for air traffic control services provided to international flights through the PNG airspace.
“All that revenue will diminish to almost zero by the end of the month and into the foreseeable future,” he said.
“But there are appropriate and responsible measure as part of an holistic contingency plans in place.”
Capt Pakii said PNGASL had recognised this risk of charges for air traffic control as a showstopper for the company some years ago.
“Ensuring that we continue to deliver our safety critical service, even when our single source of revenue runs dry,” he said.
“So we are well-placed to continue to deliver our services to the industry for the foreseeable future,
“PNG can be assured that PNGASL will ensure aviation safety is not compromised within our sovereign airspace during this period of uncertainty.”
Capt Pakii said international overflying traffic was reduced by almost 60 per cent this month as major airlines in the region have grounded their fleet.

Correctional Services head announces institutions will shut down

By SYLVESTER WEMURU
THE PNG Correctional Services (CS) will close all its institutions on Friday to isolate the prison population, including wardens, officers and their families, Commissioner Steven Pokanis says.
Pokanis announced this yesterday and said internal awareness would be carried out until Friday.
He said health officers working at respective institutions would be
on standby to check if new convicted prisoners were to be taken to prison.
He said it would be good to close down their operation because that would keep the detainees, their families and themselves in isolation at least for a month.
Pokanis said they had also suspended church activities, community engagements programmes as well as allowing low-risk detainees to spend weekends visiting families.
“We would like to have curfews in all our institutions so that we can monitor those who come and go, especially families and friends,” he said.
“I also call on the detainees’ families to bear with us and work with us.”
Pokanis said these were some of the steps taken and it would be monitored until April 24. He said detainees and staff agreed to the move to protect themselves.
The 20 institutions are Bomana, Vanimo, Beon, Boram, Buimo, Manus, Kavieng, Beikut, Kerevat, Lakiamata, Biru, Giligili, Daru, Ningrum, Mukrumanda, Baisu, Barawagi, Bihute, Bundaria and Bui-iebi.