Papua New Guinea

The year 2020 brought great challenges worldwide with the global pandemic of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (covid-19), and while many parts of the Pacific region were able to remain free of the virus and its variants, Papua New Guinea (PNG) was not able to stay the tide. Coupled with this threat were government efforts to deal with a stumbling economy, breakdowns in negotiations regarding the distribution of profits from extractive industries, and grave political infighting. Faced with such stern challenges, the country was able to navigate a path through, even passing two important anti-corruption laws, although it certainly was not unscathed.

The covid-19 pandemic heavily disrupted an already strained healthcare system in PNG. The structure and capacity of health-care provision in both rural and urban parts of PNG have always been tenuous, with major challenges in procuring needed supplies, medicines, and trained staff. These common shortcomings combined with the added stress of a pandemic turned out to be a recipe for disaster for a country that already struggles to address tuberculosis, polio, malaria, and other maladies within its borders. While the doctors and nurses administering aid during the pandemic have shown great resilience, even as they often become infected themselves, Papua New Guinea seems to have escaped the brunt of the virus's wrath along with much of the Global South. Complicating matters of tending to the sick, the administration of prevention measures, testing, restrictions, and so forth were handled by the Police Commission rather than the Ministry of Health. Authority wielded by the Ministry of Police, then headed by mp Bryan Kramer and Police Commissioner David Manning, allowed for restrictions such as lockdowns—especially within the larger cities—but police power lacks expertise in healthcare delivery, the nuances of disease management, and complicated cooperation with international agencies like the World Health Organization (Ivarature, Thomson, and McClure 2020). Attempts to minimize disease spread were broad and heavy at first but eventually diminished to mere recommendations as time wore on, the economy faltered, and caseloads turned out to be lighter than in other countries.

Early restrictions came in February as potential outbreaks among Torres Strait Island communities on both sides of the marine boundary between PNG and Australia led to the border's closure, a precaution implemented to slow the potential spread of the disease by Islanders who are allowed free travel across the border based on traditional trading and lineage (Smith 2020). The first confirmed case of covid-19, found in a male mine worker from overseas on 13 March, prompted a rapid response from the government that ensured the return of the individual to his place of origin as well as the declaration of a fourteen-day state of emergency. The temporary order closed the country to international travel while also heavily restricting travel between provinces (Lyons 2020). One Qantas flight from Brisbane to Port Moresby learned about the strict enforcement of the border closure the hard way: they were informed mid-flight that they would not be allowed to land in the nation's capital because their scheduled arrival came the week after the order had been implemented (nbc News PNG 2020). Such decisive and sweeping action proved to be the exception to the rule as economic strains and pandemic fatigue made long-term restrictions difficult to maintain.

Papua New Guinea was not spared from the disastrous economic effects of the pandemic, with lockdowns affecting both domestic and international trade. Initial concerns that there would not be sufficient funds in government coffers to pay for protective equipment for medical staff prompted as many as four thousand nurses to strike in March. Said one anonymous doctor involved in the effort: "The national government must come clean on the financial front and tell the people whether there is money available to fight the coronavirus or not, because currently almost all hospitals lack basic medical supplies to attend to ordinary illnesses in the country" (Togiba 2020a). Shop and market closures were hard on local populations that are often unable to purchase or store large amounts of food to carry through the duration of an extended lockdown, and physical [End...