Coronavirus infections are reaching a tipping point in PNG. Can a catastrophe on our doorstep be prevented?

For almost a year, PNG appeared to escape the worst ravages of the coronavirus pandemic, but the numbers now coming out of Port Moresby General Hospital are staggering and frightening.

Of everyone currently being tested for COVID-19 at the country’s largest hospital, 42 per cent are returning positive results.

A growing number of hospital workers are also infected: 114 staff members — about 10 per cent of the workforce — have contracted the virus.

But the hospital’s chief executive, Dr Paki Malumi, believes most of his employees contracted the coronavirus in the community, rather than at work.

“We have widespread community transmission, not only in [the capital] but across the country, it’s just that we’re not doing enough testing,” he…