Bougainville has recorded its first Covid-19 death.
This comes as the region confirms there had been a total of 284 confirmed cases by Sunday – nearly 100 above the figure for Bougainville published by Papua New Guinea’s National Covid-19 Controller on Monday.
The Bougainville pandemic controller, Clement Totavun, in a government statement, said 254 of those cases had recovered.
Mr Totavun said that there are many positive cases and while there has been a quick response by the medical team, the number of infections cases is increasing.
He said after testing in Buka samples are sent to Port Moresby and then to Brisbane or Singapore.
16 people have needed hospital treatment but have since been discharged.
He appealed to the people to follow the instructions if they are required to be isolated and quarantined.
Mr Totavun said he passed his condolences to the relatives of the deceased.
The PNG death toll is now 91 with nearly 10,000 people infected.
