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 Australia will start vaccinating frontline health workers in Papua New Guinea, as well as residents of "treaty villages" in the coronavirus-stricken western province along Australia's northern border. Australia had already assigned 200,000 doses of vaccine to Papua New Guinea, but those doses were not due to arrive until April. But Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Wednesday allocated 8,000 doses to frontline workers in Papua New Guinea and to residents of treaty villages on the border with Australia. Queensland Health said three patients were still in hospital while four others were transferred to other Queensland hospitals. In Australia's Torres Strait, regional mayor Philemon Mosby told The Guardian Australia that the border with Papua New Guinea should remain closed while vaccinations are spread across the islands. Vaccinations began on Saibai Island on Monday. Eight thousand doses of AstraZeneca vaccine will be sent from Australian domestic stockpiles to the north next week, as Papua New Guinea grapples with a growing infection rate that threatens to overwhelm the country's already fragile health system. Hundreds of doctors and nurses have been infected in some cases due to a lack of protective equipment. Australia has also requested - and will pay for - 1 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine for PNG. Covid has arrived at a hospital in Papua New Guinea - people may soon die in the parking lot Read more The number of cases in PNG is growing exponentially, jumping from fewer than 1,000 cases a month ago to 2,269. But there are very few tests across the archipelago. Just over 54,000 coin master hack generator tests were conducted across the country - nearly 9 million people - during the entire epidemic, and the actual rate of infection is a higher factor. In many places outside of the capital, Port Moresby, there is no test at all. Government sources in Papua New Guinea say the actual case rate could be 10 times the official figure. “Our communities are small and with crowded living conditions,” Mosby said. "Only one case in the community will spread rapidly, our people are at risk, and the outbreak will be catastrophic." The Covid vaccine has been sped up in the Torres Strait as fears of an outbreak grow in Papua New Guinea Read more The boundaries between treaty villages in Papua New Guinea and Australia are usually porous: Under the Torres Strait Treaty, the traditional inhabitants of the islands and villages along the two countries' common border are able to move without restrictions between the two countries. But all cross-border movement has been suspended since March. A spokesperson for the Australian Border Force said the ban on cross-border travel would remain "until further notice" and that ABF was "closely monitoring the situation in close cooperation with its counterparts in Australia and Papua New Guinea (Papua New Guinea)". Australia will also send medical supplies, including respirators, masks, gowns and gloves. Passenger flights from Papua New Guinea to Cairns have been suspended for two weeks, and flights departing from Australian airports to Papua New Guinea have also been suspended, except for essential and critical workers. "They are our family, they are our friends, our neighbors," Morrison said of PNG. "This is in the interest of Australia, it is in the interests of our region, and it is our duty as Australians to ensure the health of our citizens but also the Papua New Guinea family that we dear." Australia's chief medical officer, Paul Kelly, said the situation in Papua New Guinea has rapidly deteriorated and the true extent of the outbreak is not known. He said: "Of the cases that were diagnosed in Papua New Guinea, half of them were diagnosed in the past two weeks, since the beginning of the epidemic." "Realizing that they didn't have the resources for mass testing like we have in Australia ... Any number you see from Papua New Guinea of ​​cases and even deaths will be understated." 26 people have been confirmed dead from Covid-19 in Papua New Guinea. The actual death toll is believed to be much higher. The funeral and burial of PNG's founding father, Sir Michael Somari, last week saw massive rallies in Port Moresby and Wewak, with concerns that the memorials could be super-spread events, the effects of which will emerge in the coming weeks. The number of people admitted to a Queensland hospital with the Covid-19 virus has doubled in the past 10 days, as a result of the transmission of infected people from Papua New Guinea. 32 confirmed cases were imported to Australia from Papua New Guinea, and 13 cases remain in hospital. Last week, Cairns Hospital announced a "yellow code" - an internal emergency as the hospital neared capacity - after an influx of patients with COVID-19, especially miners from the Oak Teddy mine in the Western Province. Matt Tinkler, Executive Vice President of Save the Children Australia, said that while we welcome urgent health intervention in Australia, its support should go further. “There is no such thing as JobKeeper or JobSeeker in PNG, and the health crisis masks an underlying crisis