St John warns of case surge outside capital

THE St John Ambulance has noted an increase in the number of Coronavirus (Covid-19) cases coming from Central and warned people there not to be complacent.
St John Ambulance chief executive officer Matt Cannon said that in the past seven days, cases in Central had been increasing while other areas had recorded a drop in the number of Covid-19 patients.
“As an ambulance service, we see a doubling and tripling of responses into Kwikila and Egivaru areas to transport patients with suspected or confirmed Covid-19,” he said.
“While we may see the situation in Port Moresby now stabilising, we are concerned about what will take place in Central over the next weeks, and New Guinea Islands too as cases start to increase there.”
According to an update from National Pandemic Response deputy controller Dr Daoni Esorom, Central recorded 54 cases on Wednesday taking the total in the province to 646 – including 165 new cases in the past 14 days.
In East New Britain, Dr Esorom said 36 new cases were reported taking the total to 1,662 of which 230 were diagnosed in the past 14 days.
Australian High Commissioner Jon Philp said some parts of the country were experiencing the beginning of a surge.
He said much worse was to come.
He said Australia would continue to work with the Health Department, National Control Centre, Provincial Health Authorities, Port Moresby General Hospital and St John to offer support where it could.