Photo: AFP PNG scales down Covid-19 testing Papua New Guinea's National Control Centre has decided to "scale down" testing for Covid-19 and focus on rolling out the vaccination programme. PNG has reported over 17,000 confirmed cases of the virus since the pandemic began a year and a half ago. Only around 132,000 tests have been conducted. The Controller of the National Pandemic Response, Police Commissioner David Manning said testing would continue but mainly at health facility settings. He said Covid-19 is already in the country, thus it is better to continue to implement containment strategies and bolster efforts with the available vaccines.