A report that Chinese miners in Papua New Guinea had been vaccinated against COVID-19 has prompted a ban on the use of all unproven vaccines in the country.

The Papua New Guinea government has banned the use of unapproved coronavirus vaccines after reports 48 Chinese miners in the country were vaccinated against the virus.

The COVID-19 death toll in PNG stands at four following the death of a 72-year-old man in the capital Port Moresby, officials say.

The total number of cases stands at 361 including 244 cases in the capital and 98 in Western Province, The National newspaper reported on Friday.

The latest figures came as the PNG government banned the use of any vaccine to treat COVID-19 that was not approved by the World Health Organisation.

The ban follows reports in The Australian newspaper that 48 Chinese employees of PNG-based nickel mining company Ramu NiCo Management (MCC) Ltd had been vaccinated with the SARS-COV-2 vaccine on August 10.

National Pandemic Response Controller David Manning issued an order on Thursday requiring that no COVID-19 vaccination or unapproved pharmaceutical intervention should be provided to any person in the country.

"The new measure also states that no vaccine testing or trials for the COVID-19 shall occur in PNG," he said.

Manning said a flight from China carrying employees of a Chinese mining company had to be cancelled because of the vaccination allegations, and other flights from China would also be stopped.

National Control Centre incident manager Dr Esorom Doani said a 72-year-old man from Bougainville tested positive on August 12 and had since died, taking the PNG virus death toll to four.

"The 72-year-old suffered from severe respiratory illness and was incubated and placed on the ventilation, and had a history of diabetes," he told The National.

Doani called on provinces to step up on testing now that increased testing capacity was available throughout the country.