The government of Papua New Guinea has announced that as of 16 February, ‘fully-vaccinated’ tourists will be allowed into the country, subject to production of a negative PCR test taken no more than 72 hours prior to departure from their country of origin. Visitors will be tested on arrival and quarantined at their own expense if they test positive.
The following rules apply to all foreign visitors to PNG:
- All travellers over the age of 18 must be ‘fully vaccinated’ to travel to PNG, unless they are a citizen of PNG.
- PNG authorities consider that a person is ‘fully vaccinated’ if they have had the recommended number of doses of an approved vaccine within the past 6 months, and have had a booster jab if they had received the approved number of doses earlier than 6 months before travelling.
- All travellers must present evidence of a negative Covid-19 PCR test result taken no more than 72 hours prior to boarding at their first port of departure.
- All travellers will be tested again for Covid-19 upon arrival at Port Moresby International Airport
- Children under 5 are exempt from testing
- A medical certification of recovery from Covid-19 within the last three months will be accepted in lieu of a negative PCR test result
- Passengers who test positive on arrival will be quarantined for seven days at a government-approved hotel, at their own expense.
- Travellers must complete a PNG Health declaration form online, available at www.pnghdf.info
The complete government document detailing the travel rules can be downloaded here.
As with the relaxation of travel restrictions in many other nations, the rules are subject to change at short notice, however, it seems that some PNG operators consider that the restrictions will continue to ease over the course of the year.
For the full details of the directives from the pandemic controller visit here: https://walindiresort.com/covid-travel-requirements
