Papua New Guinea's Covid-19 crisis may be much worse than officially reported, with new data revealing soaring illness rates as hospitals battle to fight a rapidly deteriorating situation.

Officially the Melanesian nation of nine million people has confirmed 245 deaths and detected just under 23,000 cases of coronavirus since the pandemic began.

But World Health Organisation-managed data seen by AFP shows suspected infections are almost three times higher at 60,918 — and even that may vastly understate the true breadth of the crisis.

Separate figures from 700 clinics nationwide collected by the Department of Health show at least 2.6 million people — more than a quarter of the population — presented with flu or pneumonia-like symptoms between March 2020 and September.