COVID-19 cases

The country’s Covid-19 related death toll remains at 68.

Seven provinces recorded new Covid-19 cases on Friday April 9 including the National Capital District, Simbu, Western, Central, the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, and Eastern Highlands.

Meanwhile PNG born rugby champion and UNICEF ambassador Will Genia is urging Papua New Guineans to take Covid-19 seriously and dispel the misinformation and misunderstanding around the vaccine.

Speaking on the Pacific podcast Vosa, Genia said combatting misinformation is key.

France entered a third nationwide lockdown on Saturday, which president Emmanuel Macron said he expected to end in mid-May.

The Grand Slam is due to take place at Roland Garros from 23 May to 6 June, with qualifying the week before.

In 2020, it was postponed to the autumn because of the coronavirus pandemic.

"We are in discussion with [the French Tennis Federation] to see if we should change the date to coincide with a possible resumption of all sports and major events," Maracineanu told France Info radio.

This was among 368 new COVID-19 cases reported for the same period, increasing the total number of cases in PNG to 7,406.

A government statement said the recent deaths were recorded in the National Capital District, New Ireland and Morobe provinces.

The country’s Covid-19 cases now stand at 7,406 with 67 known deaths.

Twenty provinces including the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (AROB) have reported cases.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said six of the cases were overseas acquired and four were community transmission, two of those were linked to the 26-year-old landscaper from Stafford who tested positive to the highly infectious UK strain on Thursday night.

ABC News reports two of the cases have an unknown origin.

Greater Brisbane will now go into a three-day lockdown as of 5:00pm today and masks will be mandatory.

This includes the Ipswich, Logan, Redlands, Moreton and Brisbane council areas.

Yesterday, a student considered a casual plus contact was confirmed to have the coronavirus and last night, two siblings, a teenager and an infant, also tested positive.

The teenager recently finished school and had been working at Kmart Botany. They were at work on Friday 19 February and Saturday 20 February between 4pm and 10pm. People who visited the store during those times are being asked to isolate and call Healthline.

On Saturday authorities confirmed a 895th case in the Central province, a 37-year old male who is an employee of a mining company.

He was not showing symptoms of COVID-19 at the time of testing but swab samples returned positive as part of the routine travel screening for work.

Additionally, over the course of the weekend, PNG's Hunters rugby leage team announced that one of the members of their travelling party had tested positive for Covid-19

It means that their scheduled departuire to Australia yesterday has been delayed again.

President Francisco Sagasti said the increase in infections had pushed hospitals close to collapse. The lockdown will run from 31 January to 14 February, covering 10 regions.

The new restrictions include a closure of all non-essential shops, a ban on domestic air and land travel and the extension of a ban on flights coming from Europe to flights from Brazil in an attempt to curb new, more contagious strains of the virus.

The country has reported more than one million cases and about 40,000 deaths related to Covid-19, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The four are now under the care of state health officials along with one person who may have been exposed to them.

All have been removed from the hotel in Honolulu.

The information was revealed at a press conference with Governor Lemanu Peleti Mauga and members of the Covid 19 Task Force, led by Lieutenant Governor Talauega Eleasalo Ale.

Health Director Motusa Tuileama Nua said those who tested positive were members of a family who had travelled from the mainland.

The move comes after Fulham's away game against Tottenham Hotspur on Thursday was also called off due to a "significant rise" in positive coronavirus cases within their camp.

Fulham requested the Premier League to rearrange the Burnley game after the latest round of testing revealed a further increase in positive Covid-19 cases.

"With the health of players and staff the priority, the League and Fulham will agree a further action plan to control the outbreak to allow the club to resume their season safely," the league said in a statement.

At the stroke of midnight, police vehicles joined the ends of queues at each border checkpoint to mark the midnight closure. Travellers were told earlier on Friday they would need to be in line before 11:59pm in order to make it home.

"At midnight, regardless of how long the queue is, we'll have a police car go to the end of that queue," Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Rick Nugent said earlier.

"If you are there by midnight, regardless of whether you're actually processed, you're included as arriving prior to midnight."