Three weeks quarantine affecting businesses: Sinclair

LAE businessman Bob Sinclair says the three-week quarantine period for travellers arriving in the country is affecting businesses operations heavily.
He raised this concern when members of the Lae Chamber of Commerce and Industry met with National Pandemic Response Controller David Manning, Deputy Controller Dr Daoni Esorom and the Dean of University of Papua New Guinea’s Medical School, Prof John Vince, for an information session on the Coronavirus (Covid-19) yesterday.
Manning, who is also the police commissioner, said the set period was sufficient timing to detect any Delta variant cases, especially for international travellers while in quarantine.
“We weren’t comfortable with the prospect of decreasing the number of days in quarantine and then finding out afterwards that we missed one or two Delta cases and now in the midst of our communities,” he said.
“But there are discussions within the National Control Centre and the Medical and Scientific Advisory Committee on how to best advise the National Executive Council about the possibility to decrease the quarantine period for international travellers in efforts to opening up international borders and start the road to economic recovery.”
However, Manning said, to open up international borders, the country would need to fully vaccinate at least 3.7million “which is a mammoth task”.
“As far as the prime minister’s last conversation with us, we should have the reduced quarantine period commencing as early as January of 2022,” he said.
“It should be reduced to seven days quarantine for those who are fully vaccinated.”