Hospital beds running out in Papua New Guinea as COVID-19 surges

Experts fear minimal testing is disguising true scale of the outbreak and worry this weekend’s funeral for former Prime Minister Michael Somare could be a super-spreader event. Papua New Guinea (PNG) is facing an exponential increase in the spread of COVID-19, with country-wide reports of community transmission and large numbers of hospital workers and patients being diagnosed with the virus. PNG’s Joint Agency Task Force reported 1,741 cases and 21 deaths as of March 9 – nearly double the number of cases reported one month earlier and more than double the deaths reported two weeks earlier.