Two schools asked to close

By REBECCA KUKU
TWO schools in the Nation Capital District (NCD) have been advised to close for 14 days after a teacher and a student tested positive for Covid-19 in each school.
National Control Centre incident manager Dr Daoni Essorom said a teacher from the St Joseph’s International Catholic College and a student from Port Moresby Grammar School tested positive last week.
“Both the teacher and student are in isolation at the Rita Flynn Isolation Centre and we have advised the schools to close for 14 days to fumigate the premises,” he said. “So far, we have received word from St Joseph’s International School that they are closing for 14 days.
“But we have not yet heard from Port Moresby Grammar School.”
Meanwhile, a Filipino man living in Port Moresby has been confirmed dead from Covid-19 bringing the country’s total death to five.
Dr Essorom said the Filipino man was brought in after he had Covid-19 symptoms.
He said a sample was taken from the man which returned positive.
Dr Essorom said that 460 Covid-19 cases had been confirmed so far in Papua New Guinea and it is believed that the number could increase if more testing was done throughout the country.
“NCD now has 275 confirmed cases, Western has 166, Morobe has five cases, and East New Britain has two cases.
“Eastern Highlands, West Sepik, New Ireland, Southern Highlands, Milne Bay and the Autonomous Region of Bougainville all have one confirmed case each,” he said.
Dr Essorom said most of the testing was done in NCD with fewer tests in other provinces.
He said it is believed that more testing would show the true extent of Covid-19 in the country.