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Papua New Guinea bans travellers from all ‘Asian ports’
PORT MORESBY, Jan 29, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Papua New Guinea shut air and
seaports to all foreign travellers coming from Asia on Wednesday, in a
desperate bid to prevent the deadly coronavirus from reaching the
impoverished Melanesian nation.
In a note to airlines and boat operators, the ministry of immigration said
“all citizens originating from the Asian ports will be refused entry to the
country effective today”.
The ministry also announced that Papua New Guinea’s only official land
border — with Indonesian-controlled Papua province — would be shut from
Thursday.
No cases of coronavirus have been reported in Papua New Guinea, but the
country’s health service is already buckling under the weight of underfunding
and rampant public health problems.
Papua New Guinea is one of only a handful of countries where polio is
still endemic, leaving doctors and the United Nations scrambling to revive
long-lapsed vaccination programmes.
Papua New Guinea residents returning from Asian countries will be held in
quarantine for 14 days.
It will only be possible for anyone to leave or enter the country via Port
Moresby’s international airport.
Most flights into the airport are domestic, or from Australia, but
officials told AFP arrivals from Chinese cities, Singapore and any other
Asian cities would also be affected.
It was not clear how long the measures will be in effect.
“This is a preventative measure taken to ensure the spread of the
coronavirus that is rapidly spreading in the world is minimised,” Immigration
and Border Security Minister Westly Nukundi Nukundj said.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1240 hrs