COVID-19

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the doses would be sent immediately, along with other critical care equipment.

Papua New Guinea's fragile healthcare system is under huge strain.

Officially, there are 1,400 active cases in the country, but the true number is thought to be much higher.

Testing has been an issue for the island nation. As of 10 March, only 50,000 tests had been carried out in a country with a population of nine million.

The airline will use Ink Health APIS to securely validate and share the Covid-19 test status of passengers and crew prior to travel. Test results will be uploaded by authorised clinics and laboratories directly into the system.

Nauru Airlines selected the Ink solution for its unique ability to verify passengers’ Covid-19 health status from paper-based test result certificates and multiple digital health wallets, as their adoption increases.

A YouTube spokeswoman said the videos contradicted vaccine information from the World Health Organization (WHO) or health authorities such as the NHS.

In October, it banned vaccine misinformation in a bid to clamp down on attempts to discredit the jabs.

It added that in the past year, it had removed more than 800,000 videos for coronavirus misinformation.

That figure covers more than just vaccines, but wider "medically unsubstantiated" claims about the virus.

Czech authorities on Tuesday sent the first patient abroad for treatment in Poland as facilities struggled to cope.

In Hungary, meanwhile, the number of cases in the current wave has surpassed the previous peak in December.

Schools and most shops were closed on Monday amid rising infections.

Cases are also on the rise in Poland, where the government recorded the highest number of daily cases since late November on Wednesday, with 17,260 new infections. A health ministry spokesman complained of "increased looseness" among Poles towards anti-Covid measures.

The 2020 report collates all responses gathered across the first 9 surveys conducted between May and December last year, from all major industries across 16 Pacific countries.

The officers were sworn in this morning in a ceremony at the Central Police Station.

PPS personnel are Covid-19 specialists working at each of the designated quarantine residences.

Edes Jordan, PPS Administrator was the witness as the officers took their oath of office.

Nauru is one of few remaining countries that is Covid-19 free.

Photo source Nauru Police 

The first infection was reported on Saturday in a school principal who had left mandatory quarantine weeks ago after returning a negative test result.

His case appears to be linked to a simultaneous community outbreak in New Caledonia which went into a lockdown at midnight after recording its first nine community cases.

The authorities in Wallis now report 19 cases in total, including the first on the island of Futuna.

Passenger air traffic has been suspended.

Police said the recruits underwent training on ethics, police powers, Health and PPE, Emergency Services fire safety yesterday.

Police Liaison Officer Peter Leaupepe took the session on the country’ Covid-19 Regulations.

The Government’s 'Capture and Contain' approach to the Covid threat continues its success.

Nauru remains Covid-19-free since the global pandemic was announced in March 2020.

Photo source Nauru Police Caption: PPS recruits in their training      

He said the last official figures for Papua New Guinea's autonomous region of Bougainville were 40 cases of the coronavrius - a rise from just three last Thursday.

Toroama said Bougainville's health officials had been trying to convince people to wear masks, wash their hands and maintain social distance.

There had been criticism of Bougainvilleans failing to respond to the Covid-19 surge but Toroama said Buka town would now go into a full, 14-day, lock down.

Revenues slipped $3m to $175m due to a drop in advertising.

But the state-owned broadcaster said it experienced “positive audience and revenue momentum” in the final quarter of last year which had continued into the new year.

Because of that, it expected to “significantly exceed” its financial forecasts for the full year to the end of June.

The company’s profit was up from just under $16m in the same period in 2019, thanks to a $33m drop in costs, almost three-quarters of which was attributable to lower spending on content because of Covid.