Delta cases increase to 300 so far

By LULU MARK
WITH the Coronavirus (Covid-19) cases around the country continuing to increase – including almost 300 cases of the Delta variant so far – people have again been reminded to get vaccinated to prevent deaths.
Deputy National Pandemic Response Controller Dr Esorom said that as of Saturday, the total Covid-19 cases recorded in PNG had reached 32,953. Of that number, 298 have been confirmed as Delta variant cases.
The total number of people who have died of the Covid-19 is 436.
“We have a very big community transmission and it is driven by the Delta variant,” he said.
The National Capital District has 112 Delta variant cases, Morobe 59, West Sepik 56, Western 32, Hela 13, Eastern Highlands 8, Madang and Central 4 each, Enga 3, Western Highland and Manus 2 each, and East New Britain, New Ireland and Chimbu with one each.
“There are a lot of the Covid-19, including Delta cases out there but we are not doing enough testing,” he said.
“Testing is important to know the situation for the health and safety of our people. We need to do more to test our people to make sure that they know their status so that they can protect themselves, their families and communities.
“If we don’t test, we will have a lot of people who will die unnecessarily. The deaths recorded are from the death certificates we received. We believe there are lot more deaths out there.”
He said some deaths had not been officially recorded.
“On average every day, I sign off at the National Control Centre between eight and 15 requests for dead bodies to be transported around the country,” he said.
“We have been doing this for the last few months now and it is not a good sight. One death is too many.”
He said most of the people who died had not been vaccinated.