August 2020
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.[6] 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.[6] Beginning August 1, flights into Bougainville could only be MEDEVAC or an approved charter flight.[6] The government also now needed to grant permission to anyone seeking to fly out of Bougainville.[6] Just one freight flight would be allowed to land in Bougainville each week.[6]
The Autonomous Bougainville Government confirmed its first positive case of COVID-19 on Friday, August 7, 2020.[2] The first patient was identified as a 22-year college student.[2] The student returned to Buka, Bougainville, passing through Buka Airport, from Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea.[2] He then traveled to Central Bougainville District before testing positive for COVID-19.[2] Once identified, the patient was quarantines in the town of Arawa.[2] Contact tracing was set up to find individuals that the man may have come in contact with.[2]
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.[7] Public motors vehicles are the main form of public transportation in Bougainville.[7] 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.[7]
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.[2][3] 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.[2] 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.[2][3] Voters were also asked to bring their own pens to fill out their ballots.[2]