The three leading provinces with COVID-19 infections on a daily basis; West Sepik, Eastern Highlands and the Western Province will be going into an imminent lockdown as the country braces itself for a COVID-19 surge.
Acting Prime Minister Soroi Eoe made the announcement this afternoon following a whole day meeting at the National Control Center on strategies and new measures that will be announced tomorrow.
Eoe said the new measures will not restrict people’s movement from one place to another, however there will be some form of control to address the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the country.
“What we have discussed today is to basically look at strategies on how we address this issue without having to restrict people’s rights.”
The Acting Prime Minister said the new measures and lockdown strategies will focus on the three provinces, but they are also monitoring other provinces that are also experiencing an increase on daily COVID-19 infections.
“We are also looking at Enga and monitoring the situation up there including Morobe and NCD.”
“Whatever measures that we announce tomorrow basically looks at allowing people’s rights and movements but also pointing out to our people that they need to take precautionary measures.”
“If need be, we can put in certain restrictions in terms of travelling to other provinces especially the three provinces; WSP, EHP and Western Province.”
Eoe said the increase in the number of cases happened following independence celebrations all over the country with people moving from one province to another during the independence week.
The new measures for the three provinces and the rest of the country will be made known tomorrow.