'This is what we feared': how a country that avoided the worst of Covid finally got hit

Papua New Guinea has seen coronavirus cases skyrocket, with fears it could push the health system to breaking point

When Papua New Guinea recorded its first Covid case in March 2020, the country held its breath.

There were acute fears about its on the country's already overwhelmed and under-resourced health system, which has roughly 500 doctors to serve a population of around nine million, and was already struggling to deal with outbreaks of measles, drug-resistant tuberculosis and polio.