Thursday 1 October 2020
A 30-year-old mine worker in the Western Province is the latest person who tested positive for coronavirus diseases (COVID-19) in the last 24 hours, bringing Papua New Guinea’s total COVID-19 cases to 539
The male worker who resides in a settlement at the fringes of Tabubil town is the third confirmed case in that particular area. He had no symptoms and was tested as part of the routine testing.
Controller of the National Pandemic Response, Mr David Manning, says that the confirmation of the third case in the same area indicates likely transmission in communities outside the mine.
“There must be an immediate implementation of community-based testing in this settlement and in Kiunga town to determine the extent of the outbreak,” says Mr Manning.
Representatives from the National Department of Health and World Health Organization visited Western Province in early September and strongly recommended the implementation of community-based testing in the surrounding settlements in and around Kiunga town.
To date, Western Province has 191 confirmed cases. The National Capital District has the highest number of confirmed cases in the county at 321.
PNG has tested 25,955 persons for coronavirus. An additional 202 samples are pending laboratory results.
There are 10 active cases currently in isolation. So far, 519 persons have recovered whilst death from COVID-19 remains at seven.
There are 13 provinces that have confirmed cases:
| Provinces | Confirmed cases |
| NCD | 321 |
| Western Province | 191 |
| Central | 7 |
| Morobe | 5 |
| East Sepik | 3 |
| West New Britain | 3 |
| East New Britain | 2 |
| Milne Bay | 2 |
| Southern Highlands | 1 |
| Eastern Highlands | 1 |
| West Sepik | 1 |
| New Ireland | 1 |
| Autonomous Bougainville Region | 1 |
Globally, total confirmed cases have reached 34,128,152 and the death toll stands at 1,017,839.
There was an increase of 294,248 confirmed cases in the last 24 hours.
In the Western Pacific region, a total of 12 countries/territories had confirmed cases in the last 24 hours, bringing the total confirmed cases for the region to 614,003 cases and 13,396 deaths.
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