As Papua New Guinea faces a new outbreak of Delta variant, hospitals and morgues are struggling to cope

Following a pre-Delta variant surge of COVID-19 cases in Papua New Guinea in March, the country is facing a fresh outbreak that is straining the healthcare system and has prompted the suspension of non-critical care at major hospitals.

The Minister for Health in Papua New Guinea, Jelta Wong, says work has started on a 500-bed field hospital in Port Moresby, as the country’s COVID-19 outbreak continues to escalate.

In Papua New Guinea’s Port Moresby Hospital 70 Covid-19 deaths have filled morgue, with 50 unclaimed bodies still there, medical director says. Now five or six deaths a day with morgue capacity just 60.

What people are saying?

Tali Aualiitia PNG has extremely low vaccination rates and it’s not just vaccine hesitancy, people administering the vaccine have been facing abuse, Unused vaccines are being sent to other countries before they expire. Yet people are dying. Funeral homes are at capacity. It’s just wild.

Meg Stuart Surely we can do more to help?! Just a handful of kilometres away, with wealth and resources to rescue the situation. Or is it, can it be, more complicated than that?