Concerns over testing capacity

By LULU MARK
COVID-19 testing capacity in the country is still low despite a surge in cases, thus, efforts are being made to increase testing, an official says.
Health secretary Dr Osborne Liko said Covid-19 testing was an ongoing challenge amidst resource constraints.
He said on March 19, the Mt Hagen Hospital ran out of testing machine cartridges.
Two weeks ago, East New Britain’s Nonga Hospital reported that there were only 10 (cartridges) left, and Agau Hospital also informed the Health Department over the weekend that it too was running short.
Dr Liko said the picture was almost the same all over the country – there were no cartridges and the number of cases or results dropped.
“That does not mean that there is an improvement in the community spread of the Covid-19,” he said.
“The results fluctuate, (it) is not because we are improving.
“It depends on the (availability of) consumables in the reporting system.
“It is the consumable that is needed to give us the actual numbers in each of our provincial health authorities and country.
“There is a global shortage of consumables like cartridges.
Dr Liko said through the support of the Australian department of foreign affairs and trade, most of the samples that cannot be tested here were sent to labs in Singapore and Brisbane so the turnaround time from 38 to 48 hours normal goes up to three or five days.