COVID-19 pandemic in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville

On August 1, 2020, the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) began restricting flights from the rest of Papua New Guinea after a new surge of coronavirus cases COVID-19 pandemic in Papua New Guinea.[5] While a COVID-19 state of emergency was already in place, passengers had been able to fly into Buka Airport and Aropa Airport from Papua New Guinea since early June 2020.[5] Beginning August 1, flights into Bougainville could only be MEDEVAC or an approved charter flight.[5] The government also now needed to grant permission to anyone seeking to fly out of Bougainville.[5] Just one freight flight would be allowed to land in Bougainville each week.[5]

The Autonomous Bougainville Government confirmed its first positive case of COVID-19 on Friday, August 7, 2020.[1] The first patient was identified as a 22-year college student.[1] The student returned to Buka, Bougainville, passing through Buka Airport, from Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea.[1] He then traveled to Central Bougainville District before testing positive for COVID-19.[1] Once identified, the patient was quarantines in the town of Arawa.[1] Contact tracing was set up to find individuals that the man may have come in contact with.[1]

In August 2020, the government began requiring the operators and drivers of public motor vehicles (PMVs) to keep daily recorded logs of all passengers in an effort to aid contact tracing.[6] Public motors vehicles are the main form of public transportation in Bougainville.[6] The Autonomous Bougainville Government also banned travel between different localities and constituencies for four days, beginning on August 12, 2020, in an effort to stop any potential spread of COVID-19.[6]

The confirmed arrival of COVID-19 in Autonomous Region of Bougainville occurred just before the beginning of the 2020 Bougainvillean general and presidential elections, which began on August 12, 2020.[1][2] Commissioner Ignatius Nauru of the Office of the Bougainville Electoral Commissioner said efforts were in place to educate voters about COVID-19 during the three week election.[1] Personal protective equipment (PPE), such as masks and gloves, were mandatory for all poll workers, while voters were required to sanitize their hands at the polling station.[1][2] Voters were also asked to bring their own pens to fill out their ballots.[1]