Community isolates traditional border crossers in Western

TRADITIONAL border crossers between Papua New Guinea and Indonesia who had little or no knowledge of restrictions have been isolated by local communities in Western, an official says.
Provincial administrator Robert Kaiyun said a rapid response team from the Health Department in Port Moresby went there to collect samples from people last week.
Kaiyun said 51 awareness teams in the province were dispatched into strategic locations to educate communities on what they should do to alert the authorities of border crossers and general awareness on coronavirus and personal hygiene.
He said soldiers and police were deployed to monitor movement of people crossing borders.
More than 100 security personnel have been engaged to monitor the health security risk areas and provide security to the response teams which had gone into rural communities to conduct awareness, Kaiyun said.
He said strategic locations were identified in line with areas of concern along the sea and land international borders which the teams visited.
“Teams had received desensitising and basic training on best practices for prevention prior to their deployment,” Kaiyun said.
“National operations centre was able to organise for personal protective equipment (PPEs) for frontline teams which was brought into the province by Ok Tedi Mining Ltd.
“However, there is still a need for more PPEs,” he said.
Kaiyun urged locals to adhere to state of emergency (SOE) rules to protect themselves and their communities from coronavirus.
He said those who failed to comply with the restrictions would be dealt with accordingly.