{"id":10518,"date":"2021-01-19T19:20:11","date_gmt":"2021-01-19T19:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=152062"},"modified":"2021-01-19T19:20:11","modified_gmt":"2021-01-19T19:20:11","slug":"papua-new-guineans-defy-national-mask-wearing-rules-in-spite-of-covid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/01\/19\/papua-new-guineans-defy-national-mask-wearing-rules-in-spite-of-covid\/","title":{"rendered":"Papua New Guineans defy national mask-wearing rules in spite of covid"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pf-content\">\n<p><em>By Lulu Mark in Port Moresby<\/em><\/p>\n<p>In spite of Papua New Guinea&#8217;s mandatory mask-wearing requirement under the National Pandemic Act 2020, many public servants attending a dedication service in Port Moresby have failed to wear one.<\/p>\n<p>They were issued masks before entering the Sir John Guise Indoor Complex but took them off once inside.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/international\/pacific-news\/434760\/another-covid-death-in-french-polynesia-another-case-in-png\"><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> Another covid death in French Polynesia, another case in PNG<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Pandemic Controller David Manning has again emphasised that the mandatory wearing of masks is one of the 11 measures to stop the spread of the covid-19 which some people were openly defying.<\/p>\n<p>The national covid-19 total is 835. Manning said that in spite of no new cases being reported in the past 24 hours, people must remain vigilant.<\/p>\n<p>The rules are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>NO person shall be permitted entry to, or otherwise remain within any enclosed space within an establishment, unless the person is wearing a mask or face covering, in a manner which covers their mouth, nose and chin;<\/li>\n<li>NO person shall be permitted entry into or otherwise remain on public transport unless the person is wearing a mask or face covering in a manner which covers their mouth, nose and chin;<\/li>\n<li>NO person shall be permitted entry into an aircraft anywhere in PNG unless the person is wearing a mask or face covering;<\/li>\n<li>NO person shall remove their mask or face covering while on an aircraft in PNG; and,<\/li>\n<li>ALL persons working in a designated market, establishment or on a public transport in which they interact in person with customers, clients or work in an enclosed space with other colleagues must wear masks at all times.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Face masks &#8216;a must&#8217;<\/strong><br \/>\nManning stressed that business and government departments and agencies must ensure that all employees must wear mask or face coverings.<\/p>\n<p>But at the public service dedication service on Monday, the majority of the people who sat side by side were not wearing masks.<\/p>\n<p>An officer from the Department of Community Development was seen handing out masks to public servants entering the Sir John Guise Stadium.<\/p>\n<p>But once inside, some removed their masks.<\/p>\n<p>Those exempted from the measures include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>CHILDREN under 12;<\/li>\n<li>PERSONS with underlying medical conditions which inhibit their ability to wear a mask, including persons with physical or mental illness or impairment or disability;<\/li>\n<li>PERSONS who are unable to place or remove a facemask or face covering without assistance;<\/li>\n<li>PERSONS undergoing dental treatment or medical care to the extent that the procedure requires that no face covering may be worn; and<\/li>\n<li>PERSONS participating in sporting activities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Manning said penalties would be imposed on those who failed to wear masks.<\/p>\n<p><em>Asia Pacific Report republishes The National articles with permission.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<p class=\"syndicated-attribution\">This post was originally published on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/2021\/01\/19\/papua-new-guineans-defy-national-mask-wearing-rules-in-spite-of-covid\/\">Radio Free<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Lulu Mark in Port Moresby In spite of Papua New Guinea\u2019s mandatory mask-wearing requirement under the National Pandemic Act 2020, many public servants attending a dedication service\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":400,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[338,304,2832,5,365,387,4,12,403,366,14,1573,1716,404],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10518"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/400"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10518"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10518\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10519,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10518\/revisions\/10519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}