PNG students in China to fly to New Zealand for checks

HEALTH Minister Jelta Wong is grateful to the New Zealand government, Higher Education Department and Foreign Affairs and International Trade Department for helping to fly 19 Papua New Guinean students out of Wuhan City.
Wong said New Zealand’s help in flying the students out in one of their flights was a blessing and he was very thankful for their support and help.
“Nineteen Papua New Guinean students in Wuhan will be flown out to New Zealand where they will be placed in quarantine for 14 days,” he said.
“After the quarantine period, DHERST (Department of Higher Education Research Science and Technology) will pay for their tickets back to Port Moresby.”
Wong said the flight was expected to leave at 4pm yesterday.
However, New Zealand Foreign Affairs and Trade office said the final number of passengers was still to be determined as travel was contingent on passengers’ ability to be at the international airport in Wuhan and to pass pre-travel health screening tests.
“Registrants are predominantly New Zealand citizens and permanent residents, Australian citizens, and other foreign nationals, mainly from Pacific Island countries,” the office said
“All registrants will be required to go through clearance processes at the border, including pre-screening to make sure anyone who is demonstrating or displaying flu-like symptoms does not board the flight.”
The New Zealand Foreign Affairs and Trade office also said that all registrants for travel were provided a consular contact number where dual language assistance would be provided.
“There will also be a small team of NZ consular officials at the airport to help facilitate the process,” the office said.
The flight is expected to arrive in Auckland this afternoon.
Meanwhile, more than 4,000 passengers coming into Jackson International Airport in Port Moresby, have been screened with less than 10 suspected cases that were later cleared, Wong said.
Wong said the Government was putting in strict measures to protect people in the country.
“Right now for Papua New Guinea, our aim is to prevent the novel coronavirus from coming into the country,” he said.
“As we do not have the capacity to address it if it does come in, we are putting in strict measures.
“We have teams in place at Jackson and the three sea ports – Port Moresby, Lae and Rabaul.”
“All shipping vessels are being told to check in one of the three sea ports before they can continue on with their business.”
“We are now in the process of discussing the tourist shipping service and are yet to decide on whether we should cancel it for a period of time or just check them too.?