Surge in cases threaten health system

THE Port Moresby General Hospital is overflowing with sick and dead people which must stop before the whole system collapses, says Deputy National Pandemic Response Controller Dr Daoni Esorom.
He said the Coronavirus (Covid-19) surge in Port Moresby had put the country’s biggest hospital in dire straits.
Hospital chief executive officer Dr Paki Molumi said 69 per cent of people who came to the hospital on Sunday with symptoms of the Covid-19 tested positive.
He put the total Covid-19 deaths at the hospital since Sept 27 at 1,698.
Dr Esorom said such positivity rate “is very high”.
“It reflects the high level of transmission in the community,” he said.
“If 15 per cent asymptomatic people were tested, then the community transmission could be 15 to 30 per cent because many people are not coming for testing,” he said.
“Anything above 10 per cent positivity is very high.
“Delta spreads very fast if people don’t adhere to the Niupela Pasin.”