Six more deaths, toll now at 173

PAPUA New Guinea recorded six Covid-19 deaths last Wednesday, raising the country’s death toll to 173.
Five deaths were reported in East Sepik while the other was in East New Britain.
Of the six, four were men and two were women.
According to the controller’s media release, 62 new Covid-19 cases were recorded on Wednesday and another 72 infections were registered on Thursday – setting the country’s total cases to 16,933.
The latest infections were reported in nine provinces – Hela (23 cases); Milne Bay (16); Manus (11); Gulf (10); Eastern Highlands (4); Morobe and National Capital District had three cases each; and, New Ireland and Southern Highlands reported a single case each.
Of the 72 cases reported, 50 were men and 22 women, aged between five to 84.
To date, 130,467 people have tested for the Covid-19.
Globally, the total confirmed cases has reached 177,799,519, including 400,028 new cases.
The death toll stands at 3,848,629, including 9,497 new deaths.
PNG Covid-19 National Pandemic Response Controller and Police Commissioner David Manning said delays in receiving reports from provincial health authorities’ testing facilities remained a concern.
He said the controller’s surveillance team was constantly identifying gaps and was working with provinces to ensure limitations that may be associated with data interpretations were minimised.