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Chinese flight to PNG stopped over vaccine trial concerns from freemexy's blog

Papua New Guinea has stopped a flight from bringing Chinese mine workers into the country after being told some of them had been given a trial COVID-19 vaccination.To get more China latest news, you can visit shine news official website.

Infections have spiked in Indonesia, where the country’s top minister, a close confidant of the president, has touted herbal mangosteen juice as a COVID-19 remedy.

Meanwhile, there are fears that one of the world’s virus mitigation success stories, South Korea, might yet suffer a disastrous outbreak.Papua New Guinea has stopped a flight from bringing Chinese mine workers into the country after being told some of them had been given a trial COVID-19 vaccination.

PNG’s emergency controller David Manning said he cancelled the flight from China because it was carrying workers from the Chinese-owned Ramu Nickel mine.

The Chinese Government has previously announced two potential vaccines would be trialled by its state-owned enterprises with employees preparing to go overseas, and by the nation’s military.

Mr Manning said he has written to the Chinese ambassador asking if any Chinese nationals already in PNG have been given the vaccine.

“In light of the lack of information [about] these trials and what possible risk or threats they may cause our people, I cancelled that flight yesterday, to ensure we continue to act in the best interest of our people and our country,” he said.

A new measure under the PNG’s pandemic act has been introduced banning vaccine trials in the country and the provision of unapproved vaccination or pharmaceutical intervention to anyone in PNG.

Under the measures, a person who claims to have received a vaccine overseas must still undergo quarantine and testing before arriving in PNG, which is standard for international arrivals.Indonesia, where the rate of testing is among the world’s lowest, contact tracing is minimal and authorities have resisted lockdowns even as infections spiked, shows no signs of containing the virus.

Only last week, Luhut Pandjaitan, Indonesia’s maritime minister and close confidant of the country’s president, touted herbal mangosteen juice as a coronavirus remedy, reflecting the unscientific approach to battling the coronavirus in the world’s fourth-most-populous country.

It now has the fastest infection spread in East Asia, with 17 per cent of people tested turning out positive, rising to nearly 25 per cent outside the capital, Jakarta.

Figures above 5 per cent mean an outbreak is not under control, according to the World Health Organization.


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