The spread of artemisinin-resistant kelch13 mutants in Southeast Asia (in particular the prevalent C580Y strain) gives cause of concern in view of the possibility these strains may migrate to neighbouring regions, such as India, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea (PNG). The recent discovery of three patients infected with C580Y parasites in PNG raises alarm bells, and important questions such as whether these are recently imported strains, or whether they have been circulating for a long time, and whether they have a common origin with strains in SE Asia. In the future, we wish to monitor this population to determine whether it becomes more prevalent due to selection.