We ensure that health services from Potowayburu to Jita sub-districts continue to run normally. We do not receive any report on complaints from the local peopleTimika, Papua (ANTARA) - Public health services in the remote mountainous and coastal areas of Mimika District, Papua Province, remain unaffected by the ongoing novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, Head of the Mimika Health Office Reynold Ubra affirmed.
"We ensure that health services from Potowayburu to Jita sub-districts continue to run normally. We do not receive any report on complaints from the local people," he told local journalists in Timika, the capital of Mimika District, on Saturday.
In thwarting the potential spread of COVID-19 in the district's administrative areas, the health authorities have outlined health protocols on the basis of a mapping of green, yellow, and red risk zones of COVID-19, Ubra noted.
Next week, the Mimika Health Office has planned to deploy a team of doctors and paramedics to serve people in coastal villages, including Yapakopa, Aindua, and Ararau, in Mimika Barat Jauh Sub-district.
Their public health services prioritize the handling of leprosy, and their colleagues deployed to the areas of Amar Sub-district will help care for mothers and children as well as those suffering from malnourishment, he stated.
The medical workers dispatched to Sumapro Village in Jita Sub-district will provide essential health services, including immunization, to the local residents.
Over the past years, Mimika District has been striving to tackle diseases, such as malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS. The COVID-19 pandemic has further raised public health-related challenges, he stated.
As of Sept 11, some 957 people had contracted COVID-19, of which 758 fully recovered, while seven others succumbed to the deadly virus that causes COVID-19.
Five neighborhoods in Mimika are still categorized as red zones or high-risk areas for the infection: Tembagapura neighborhood in Tembagapura Sub-district, Amamapare Village in Mimika Timur Jauh Sub-district, Kwamki neighborhood in Mimika Baru Sub-district, Wonosari Jaya neighborhood in Wania Sub-district, and Kuala Kencana neighborhood in Kuala Kencana Sub-district, he stated.
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose a grave threat to Papua. The General Elections Commission (KPU) authority in Papua Province revealed recently that one of its members had contracted the novel coronavirus disease and was under hospitalization at a local facility.
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Translator: Evarianus S, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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