Let’s be calm

AS one of three who have attended to Covid-19 suspects and obtaining samples since late January, I would like to comment on the disease that has crippled health systems around the world.
The fact that none of our Chinese population returning from Wuhan, China between December 2019 and March 2020 showing any symptoms suggestive of Covid-19, and that 22 of our own students rescued from Wuhan and quarantined in New Zealand showing any signs of the disease, gives us some degree of assurance to remain calm.
The fact that the disease had taken more than three months to reach our shores (first positive case identified on March 17) despite continued travel in from overseas, the time duration between the first and the second positive cases and the non-proliferation of positive cases among close contacts gives us some breathing assurances that despite our global rating in crime and disease, something we in PNG are doing is in the right direction.
By now people will note that where every positive case reported overseas, especially in the northern hemisphere, the figure doubles every 24 hours.
We are not seeing it here yet in PNG. Let us be confident that with the limited health care resources that we have, together with our well trained doctors, nurses and HEOs when managing patients with pneumonia, we can navigate our path through this troubled waters. I remind all medical and scientifically trained personnel that coronavirus has been documented in numerous published studies on humans and animals well before the 2002 SARS outbreak.
Please access information from PubMed, Lancet and leading journals when making informed comments to complement each other’s work on Covid-19.
We all deserve a pat on the back.

Gerard Saleu,
Goroka