Delta attack

By LULU MARK
TWO weeks after 12 cases of the highly infectious Coronavirus (Covid-19) Delta were reported on Aug 18, the infection has shot up to 30.
And, samples of the 79 new Covid-19 cases reported in Western on Tuesday are being sent to Australia for genome sequencing to determine if any of the infection is Delta.
Covid-19 National Pandemic Response Deputy Controller Dr Daoni Esorom said 22 Delta cases had been confirmed from Western and “there is a high chance of a severe outbreak (or surge) of Delta in the province”.
“Western is becoming a public health concern,” he said in a National Control Centre (NCC) media update yesterday.
The NCC had not had an update on the Covid-19 and Delta situation for a few weeks.
Esorom said the samples of the 79 cases, all from the North Fly, would be sent to Australia for genome sequencing to determine if any of the cases were Delta.
“Currently 30 Delta variant cases were recorded in the country (Western 22, National Capital District seven and Madang one),” he said.
“NCD cases are all imported cases (6/7 from Grand Tajima Ship) while the Western and Madang cases were locally transmitted. All of them have recovered.
“Phylogenic analysis shows possible genetic linkage between Delta cases in Western and Indonesia, and between Grand Tajma cases and the Madang case,” Dr Esorom said.
“We are pretty sure that number will increase when we send the 79 cases for genome sequencing.”
He said the revelation of the phylogenic analysis “showed that our people are crossing the border”.
Dr Esorom said the NCC had received reports that people were crossing the border despite the travel restrictions which was confirmed with the Delta cases reported in Western and Madang.
He urged the people to stop travelling to West Papua for any reason because there was a daily increase there and mostly Delta infections.
On Tuesday, Indonesia reported 7,427 new cases, Papua reported 73 new cases and West Papua reported 14 new cases.
Esorom said as of Tuesday in PNG, the total number of cases was 18,091, the death toll stood at 192, and that 17,683 infected had recovered, and 216 cases were still active.
He said 175 samples received from Aug 24 to Aug 30 were pending results, adding that PNG’s recovery rate was 98 per cent and the fatality rate was one per cent.
“However, testing has been a major concern for us as the testing rate is very low,” he said.
“We are not getting the required number of tests.
“If we conduct more tests, we will pick up more cases.”
He urged the Provincial Health Authorities to step up efforts to do more testing “to help us make better informed decisions to address the pandemic in the country, especially in the face of the Delta threat.”