Health officials blame rise in Covid-19 cases on poor response

HEALTH officials are blaming the rise in the coronavirus cases in West New Britain on its poor response.
Since the first case of the Covid-19 was reported in West New Britain last November, the number of cases continue to rise.
As of last Thursday, the province had reached 194 cases, surging past East New Britain and other provinces that reported the initial cases, claiming the third highest number in the country behind National Capital District and Western.
This has now placed WNB as a hotspot for the Covid-19 in the New Guinea Islands and it is likely to be transmitting cases to its neighbouring provinces as well as the rest of the country.
A medical team from the National Control Centre was initially deployed to WNB last November to assess factors leading to an increase in cases and health worker infections and was sent again last month (Jan 6-22).
Its report showed little progress made in the response.
This was despite a state of emergency being declared on Jan 1, and a lockdown imposed by the controller from Jan 2.
“The most notable observation was that the response was disorganised, slow and lacking clear leadership,” the report said.
“Very few changes or improvements could be observed.”