East New Britain Covid-19 team running out of test kits: Official

THE East New Britain (ENB) Covid-19 surveillance team is running low on Covid-19 test kits.
This was revealed by provincial Covid-19 incident manager Dr Alex Maha in Kokopo yesterday.
Dr Maha said the team had decided to test only those who were sick and other samples taken from those who came in for testing would be sent to Port Moresby for testing.
He said the results would reveal any new cases but the delay would mean they would be unaware of the extent of the Covid-19 transmissions in the province.
“In ENB now, we have run out of test kits and the few that we have will be reserved for very sick people presenting to the health facilities so that we can diagnose them,” he said.
“This means our number will stop growing because we will not be able to confirm the cases quickly but it does not mean that the disease has stopped.”
Dr Maha cautioned that once the majority of results came back from Port Moresby, there could be a sudden jumped in numbers of positive results by 100 or 200 instead of 10, 15 or 20.
He said since the weekend, one in three people tested had been positive and advised those with flu, cough and fever be tested.
Dr Maha urged everyone to adhere to the Covid-19 protocols and stay home and avoid moving around unnecessarily.
“Stay home, have steam treatment, eat a lot of fruits and come to the health facilities and get tested if you want to know your status.”