Monday 22 March 2021

PAPUA New Guinea reported a total of 184 new cases on Monday, March 22, raising the country’s number of  confirmed  infections  to 3,758.

Controller of the National Pandemic Response and Police Commissioner Mr David Manning  also confirmed  a new death,  increasing the death toll to 37.

Meantime, the new cases were recorded  in the National Capital District with  32 new cases; Western  125; East New Britain  21 and New Ireland   6.

The cumulative figures for the 20 provinces  are  as follows:

• NCD – 1,682;
• Western – 620;
• West Sepik – 345;
• West New Britain – 196;
• Eastern Highlands – 162;
• Morobe – 142;
• East New Britain – 124;
• Western Highlands – 100;
• Autonomous Region of Bougainville – 59;
• Madang – 59;
• New Ireland – 51;
• Enga – 49;
• Central – 37;
• East Sepik – 35;
• Chimbu – 31;
• Jiwaka – 20;
• Hela – 19;
• Southern Highlands – 17;
• Milne Bay – 11; and
• Gulf – 1.

“In addition to the new cases reported in the country, there were four exported cases detected for PNG.

“Of this four, two were identified in hotel quarantine in Sydney, New South Wales. The travel history is Wewak (ESP) and Port Moresby (NCD).

“The third case was detected in hotel quarantine in Cairns, Queensland. He travelled from Western Province. The fourth case was detected in hotel quarantine in New Zealand.”

Western Province has begun reporting cases since last year and is the province with the second highest reported confirmed cases.

“Sadly, it reported its first death in the last 24 hours,” Mr Manning said.

Mr  Manning has sent his condolence to the family of the deceased.

“It is not easy to report the deaths. We encourage everyone to take care of yourself. Please I urge everyone to ensure they are following the health measures in the “Niupela Pasin”.

“This message is not only for the people living in towns and urban areas. It is for everyone in the country, including those living in remote and rural areas.

“The virus is spread from person to person and in a country like ours, most people do not come for tests until they are sick and by that time, the virus has spread to other people.

“Therefore, we do not know how far it has spread to the rural areas.

The best way we can help prevent our people from rural or remote areas getting this virus is to adhere to the health measures in place which include washing hands often, covering our coughs or coughing into elbows, avoiding crowds, physical distancing and disinfecting or cleaning surfaces such as doorknobs, work benches and personal items like laptops and phones onto which respiratory droplets from someone coughing and sneezing could fall.

“In PNG, we live in communities. We have several people living in one home. Hugging and shaking hands is our way of life. But now we have to change our lifestyle and adopt a new lifestyle to help us avoid getting sick with COVID-19 and other infectious diseases like tuberculosis. For instance, wave or nod in greeting instead of hugging a friend,” Mr Manning said.

At this stage, Mr Manning said the pandemic rages on in the world. As of Monday, there were 513,797 new cases reported globally, raising the global confirmed cases to 122,524,424.

The new deaths were 9,084, raising the death toll to 2,703,620 deaths around the globe.

In the Western Pacific Region, the highest total confirmed cases come from the Philippines which had reported a total of 663,794 cases since the outbreak, of which 7,757 were newly reported in the last 24 hours. Other countries in the region with the highest numbers include Japan (455,638) and Malaysia (333,040). They reported 1,480 and 1,327 new cases respectively in the last 24 hours.

 

Media contact: Chief Superintendent Dominic D. Kakas, BEM, DPS
COVID-19 Media & Public Information Joint Agency Task Force
Mobile: 75430557 email: ddkakas@gmail.com
Police email:                    ddkakas.policemedia@gmail.com
COVID-19 JATF email:    ddkakas.covid19media@gmail.com