Papua New Guinea has recorded 28 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours ending 12 midday on Monday May 31, increasing the total number of cases to 15,938. The cases were reported in three provinces with Eastern Highlands Province reporting the highest of 14 cases, National Capital District 10 and New Ireland province with four cases. Of the 28 cases reported, 21 were males whilst seven were females. Their ages range from 14 to 39 years. A total of 14 cases showed symptoms of COVID-19 at the time of testing, three had existing medical conditions and one had to be hospitalized. Two of the new cases were health workers. The country’s COVID-19 cases now stand at 15,938 with 162 known deaths. A total of 15,088 recoveries have been recorded with 688 cases active within the last 21-day period. To date, a total of 115,103 people have been tested for COVID-19, with 1,300 samples pending laboratory tests. All 22 provinces including the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (AROB) have reported cases. Gulf and Hela remain the least reporting provinces for COVID-19. Globally, the total confirmed cases of COVID-19 has reached 169,597,415 including 469,996 new cases reported in the last 24 hours. The death toll stands at 3,539,582 including 11,311 deaths reported in the last 24 hours. Meanwhile the Commissioner of Police and Controller of the PNG COVID-19 National Pandemic Response Mr David Manning has appealed to Papua New Guineans to be vaccinated if they are able to. “I have got my AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine and I encourage Papua New Guineans to get theirs too if they can. Remember, you can still get COVID-19 even if you are vaccinated. The COVID-19 vaccine, whether it is AstraZeneca or others, is not a cure. It offers a layer of protection from COVID-19. It helps protect us from developing severe symptoms and also helps reduce the risk of us spreading the virus,” Mr Manning said. He added that contrary to common myths that keep coming up and is causing a lot of fear among the people and even among the medical profession, the COVID-19 vaccine does not have 666, it does not contain a magnetic effect that can change DNA, it will not make people infertile or kill them and it does not contain a microchip implanted by anyone as many are led to believe. Mr Manning said, “People also fear developing blood clots from the vaccine. These are just rumors to cause people to fear and prevent them from getting the vaccine which is safe and effective in reducing COVID-19 transmission, prevents severity of the disease and hospitalization and even deaths. “We now have well over 1.5 billion people around the world vaccinated and PNG has so far vaccinated 30,425 people as of May 28. People should not fear nor should they trust the rumors and get their vaccine shots now.”