Ship under quarantine after returning from WSP

A SHIP which ferried back a group of women who attended a church conference in West Sepik has been placed on a 14-day quarantine in Madang.
The Lutheran Shipping vessel mv Momase was hired to bring back to Wewak and Madang women members of the Catholic church who had attended the conference in Vanimo, West Sepik.
West Sepik is one of the four “high-risk” provinces experiencing a surge in the Coronavirus (Covid-19) cases.
The others are Western, Western Highlands and Eastern Highlands.
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea secretary Bernard Kaisom said they were rescheduling their shipping timetables.
“The vessel was transporting Catholic mothers from Lae, Madang and Wewak to Vanimo for a conference before the new restrictions were put in place,” Kaisom said.
“And when it returned, the new restrictions were in place so it had to go through the 14-day quarantine.
“We followed all processes and got a clearance before making the trip to Vanimo – now a hotspot for the new Delta variant.”
He said the vessel’s services to the northern parts of the country would be affected.
Kaisom denied reports that the ship was carrying 300 passengers when it returned from Vanimo, West Sepik.
“That’s not true,” he said.
“The ship is licensed to carry 275 passengers and we have manifests to confirm that.”