Papua New Guinea authorities have made an appeal to people to adhere to health precautions aimed at stemming the Covid-19 outbreak.
PNG Pandemic Response Controller, David Manning Photo: EMTV
Pandemic Response Controller, David Manning, said while cases in the National Capital District continued to rise, the behaviour of people towards adhering to preventive measures was concerning.
Despite an order implementing the mandatory wearing of masks in Port Moresby, Manning said it was not happening within Public Motor Vehicles or public areas.
He said people were too lax and he said the measures needed to be taken seriously.
Manning warned the current rate of community transmission was so high in the NCD that anybody could contract the coronavirus.
The NCD reported one new case of the coronavirus on Thursday bringing the total number there to 262 and 424 for the country.
There have been four Covid-related deaths.
Earlier Manning had confirmed there had been well over 15,000 tests carried out in PNG but there were still over 1600 tests awaiting results and the government said some provinces were yet to send all their samples in.
Manning also indicated that some provincial health authorities hadn't been as stringent with testing as they could have been.