Papua New Guinea PM tests positive for COVID-19 in Beijing

BEIJING (AP) — Papua New Guinea’s prime minister tested positive for COVID-19 when he arrived in Beijing last week to attend the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games and had to cut short his stay. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson says Prime Minister James Marape was immediately given medical treatment. Marape missed Friday’s opening ceremony and returned home Sunday night, canceling a planned trip to France. Papua New Guinea, an impoverished nation of 7 million people, is experiencing a surge in cases of the omicron variant of the coronavirus, with less than 4% of its population vaccinated.