Sunday 30 August 2020
PAPUA New Guinea’s total confirmed cases of coronavirus disease 2019 remains at 459 today with no new cases reported in the last 24 hours.
In giving the update, Controller of the National Pandemic Response Mr David Manning has reiterated his call to every citizen and resident in the country to continue to take heed of the health measures against COVID-19.
“Just because we have not reported any new cases today does not mean that the virus is not spreading.
“We cannot let our guard down. We have a total of 1,686 tests at the laboratories awaiting results and there are 222 active cases. These are people who are either sick and admitted at a health facility like the Port Moresby General Hospital or are mild cases being monitored at the Rita Flynn Isolation Centre.”
Mr Manning said there are many people in this country who are questioning the reality of COVID-19 mainly because most of the cases are mild or are not life threatening.
“This is no different to the situation in other countries.”
At this stage, Mr Manning said 36 per cent of the cases confirmed in the country have been detected in Western Province, while 60 per cent came from the National Capital District.
The remaining four per cent are cases spread across nine other provinces: Central (6), Morobe (5), East New Britain (2) Eastern Highlands (1), West Sepik (1), Southern Highlands (1), Autonomous Region of Bougainville (1), New Ireland (1) and Milne Bay (1).
The National Capital District has to date 274 cases of which the majority have recovered and 5 have died.
Currently, the two facilities – Port Moresby General Hospital and Rita Flynn Isolation Centre – have together 11 in patients: 6 are mild cases, 4 moderate and one severe case which is hospitalised at the PMGH.
On Saturday, NCD reported 6 cases which included 3 contacts of positive cases. Two of them had symptoms of Severe Acute Respiratory Illnesses (SARI) and Influenza-like illness. They came from Moresby North East (4), Moresby North West (1) and Moresby South (1).
Rita Flynn Isolation Centre was the first facility in NCD to begin taking in COVID-19 cases since the start of the response and to date has cared for 177 patients. Of these, 167 have been discharged and are living normal lives.
Mr Manning has reminded everyone to take heed of the health measures which include the PMV owners and operators.
“I call upon PMVs once again to adhere to the ‘No Mask No Entry’ measure. We need everyone doing their bit to stop the transmission of COVID-19 in NCD and the entire country,” Mr Manning said.
Meanwhile, globally, the total confirmed cases is now 25,155,452 and the death toll is 845,956. There was an increase of 284,898 new cases reported in the last 24 hours.
Indonesia reported 3,308 new cases in just 24 hours, bringing its total confirmed cases to 169,195. It also reported 92 deaths, bringing its death toll to 7,261.
The two provinces sharing the border with PNG – Papua and West Papua – have reported 36 and 10 new cases respectively in the last 24 hours, bringing the total confirmed cases in the two provinces to 4,517 cases.
West Papua also reported one death, bringing the total death in the two provinces to 55.
By region, Western Pacific Region has reported a total of 5,115 new cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the total confirmed cases in the region to 486,718 and 137 new deaths in five countries bringing the death toll to 10,550.
Meanwhile Mr Manning said that domestic travel restrictions have been lifted, however, in the NCD a 10pm to 5am curfew remains in force and the wearing of facemasks in public places and public motor vehicles is compulsory.
Media contact: Chief Superintendent Dominic D. Kakas, BEM, DPS
COVID-19 Media & Public Information Joint Agency Task Force
Mobile: 75430557: Email: ddkakas@gmail.com