308 new COVID-19 cases – 153 new cases from Qauia

Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says people have the constitutional right to refuse a medical procedure or treatment however if your employer says you cannot work at that workplace unless you get vaccinated, then you face the consequences and won’t be able to work there.

Sayed-Khaiyum says the Government is not looking at mandatory vaccinations for COVID-19 however people who do not get vaccinated may be told by their employer that they cannot work there.

Sayed-Khaiyum says while he has been meeting a number of organisations as part of the budget consultations, the most important issue is that if we all get vaccinated it will open up a lot of opportunities for the country as a whole.

27,654 people have been fully vaccinated for COVID-19 while 262,151 people have got their first jabs of the COVID vaccine, AstraZeneca.

The target is to get 587,641 Fijians fully vaccinated which will ensure that our country moves forward.

Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong says they have not advised the government to enforce a 24 hour curfew for 28 days for Viti Levu.

Doctor Fong has made it clear that if he believed there was a medical case to be made for a 24 hour curfew for 28 days for all of Viti Levu, he would advise the Prime Minister directly.

He says he has the Prime Minister’s number and the Prime Minister sits across from him in the briefings.

Doctor Fong says he has not done that because, medically, they do not believe a 24 hour curfew for 28 straight days would work.

He hopes that puts a definitive end to the social media speculation.

Doctor Fong says if you have time to tweet or post on Facebook, don’t dedicate your platform to disinformation.

He says please emphasise the importance of the health measures that are proven to stop the spread of the virus.

The Permanent Secretary says he believes some of people including those in the media need a better grasp of what they mean when they say “lockdown” in Fiji.

Doctor Fong says we are not in Australia and we are not in New Zealand. He says a lockdown, in the Fijian context, means a 24 hour curfew.

He says it means no movement for any purposes except for medical emergencies, no shopping, no going out to get food, no going for a walk, no nothing – it means total lockdown.

The Permanent Secretary says other countries have not done that.

He says Australia and New Zealand have never done that so to say that many other countries have done a strict lockdown is not correct.

Doctor Fong says few, if any countries, have locked down in the same manner that Fiji has locked down.

He says here we have a different system and the word “lockdown” signals a much stricter policy.

Doctor Fong says instead of going for that strict lockdown option, movement in Fiji has been restricted for essential purposes and a curfew takes effect from 6pm until until 4am every day.

He says anywhere else in the world that alone would constitute a lockdown and in many other places in the world, measures similar to those have worked well to reduce the spread of the virus.

He further says this has worked because of public compliance.

Doctor Fong also says the reason they have not recommended four full weeks of a 24 hour curfew is that given the track record of poor public compliance, they cannot guarantee that they would see compliance everywhere in the country and therefore they simply do not have the capacity to enforce such a strict lockdown everywhere on Viti Levu.

He says the tragic reality is that Fijians living in communities most vulnerable to the virus, including those in informal settlements, are also those most vulnerable to the socioeconomic catastrophe that a 24 hour lockdown for 28 days would bring about.

The Permanent Secretary says even under such a strict lockdown, they believe the virus would continue to circulate within many of these communities.

He says they believe individuals would attempt to leave these communities and some would succeed.

Doctor Fong says they believe that after 28 days of a 24 hour curfew and the untold hardship it would bring for Fijians, we will still see new cases on day 29.

He says there are no easy choices at this stage, but some choices are still smarter than others, and they believe there is a better and smarter way forward than a 28 day total lockdown.

266,436 people have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, AstraZeneca while 32,766 Fijians are now fully vaccinated.

While speaking on the fijivillage Straight Talk With Vijay Narayan, Head of the Vaccination Taskforce, Doctor Rachel Devi says 70,000 doses arrived from Australia last week and they anticipate another 65,000 doses to come in.

Doctor Devi says they are also making arrangements for vaccines to start arriving from New Zealand.

Vaccinations have also started in Vanua Levu and Doctor Devi advises everyone to ensure that your vaccination cards are stamped when you get the jabs after some people in Savusavu said they got their jabs however their cards were not stamped. She advises these people to go to the nearest vaccination centre as the information can be checked on the digitalFIJI platform and your card can be stamped.

Doctor Devi says the vaccine supply and rollout is progressing well, and she is calling on every eligible Fijian to come forward and get vaccinated.

She says on an average they have seen between 30,000 to 70,000 vaccines being administered in a week.

The target is to get 587,641 Fijians fully vaccinated which will ensure that our country moves forward.

You can watch the Straight Talk interview at 8am tomorrow on our website, facebook page and youtube channel, fijivillage.

Meanwhile Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong says in the last three days, they have deployed 14,730 doses.

The Rewa and Nausori medical subdivision and the Ba medical subdivision are leading the way in terms of vaccine coverage with 70 percent and 81 percent of their target populations having received at least one dose of the vaccine, respectively.

He also highlighted that there is a 30 year old woman in the Intensive Care Unit right now suffering from a severe case of COVID-19.

Doctor Fong says don’t think being young makes you immune.

He says the highly contagious Delta variant present in Fiji has been described as the “fittest and the fastest” variant in the world.

Doctor Fong says anyone can be seriously impacted by this virus and this variant.

He says if you won’t respect those rules for yourselves, please do it for those most vulnerable.

The Permanent Secretary says one thing that deeply concerns him and his teams is the high rate of Fijians living with non communicable diseases.

He says these medical conditions like diabetes and hypertension contribute to higher rates of mortality from COVID-19.

Doctor Fong says until all of these Fijians are fully-vaccinated, we have to take extreme precautions to protect them, especially those living within areas of concern.

To make sure these Fijians continue to access life-sustaining medication, the Health Ministry has established a telehealth for Fijians living with non-communicable diseases that will open for the Western and Central divisions from next Monday and be available Monday through Friday from 9am until 4pm. The number is 165. If you need access to your NCD treatment medication, please call the number from next Monday.

He says they will arrange for you to be able to pick your medication up from safe points or have them delivered by mobile teams if you are living in an area under a targeted containment programme.

The helpline will be monitored and evaluated for calls received to ensure assistance is completed, all the way through to the delivery of the medication.

Please wear masks, maintain a physical distance of two metres, and make sure to wash your hands often and thoroughly. This will dramatically reduce the risk of contracting COVID-19.

Also get vaccinated when the teams come to your area.

President Jioji Konrote and Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama got their second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, AstraZeneca today.

Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong says the President and the Prime Minister have encouraged every eligible Fijian to follow their lead in protecting themselves from COVID-19.

He says many others have done the same.

Doctor Fong says it takes two weeks after receiving the second dose of the vaccine for the full benefits of immunity to set in.

He says we are very fortunate to have these vaccines available and on the way.

The target population for vaccinations is just over 586,000 adults and they are aiming to vaccinate as many of those Fijians as possible as quickly as those vaccines arrive.

He says when we have achieved adequate levels of immunity, the Ministry can begin relaxing restrictions and allow for the possibility of international travel to Fiji.

Doctor Fong says until that day, we must practice strict adherence to the health measures like mask-wearing, handwashing, and physical distancing.

He says their work is not done as their mission is to fully vaccinate every eligible Fijian.

Doctor Fong says there are people in intensive care as he speaks due to COVID-19 and the doctors and nurses are going to every possible length to care for them.

He says the more vaccines they administer, the more Fijians we keep out of ICUs and in the arms of the families that love them.

Doctor Fong stresses that morally, medically, vaccines are the right choice for all of us.

The Head of Health Protection Dr. Aalisha Sahukhan has today asked all leaders and anyone who has influence over people to do everything they can to encourage the general public to get vaccinated and also abide by the health protocols.

Dr. Sahukhan says with increasing cases, they expect increasing severe disease and deaths.

She says while their hospitals are not overwhelmed with severe cases, this is a real possibility and they are preparing for this.

Dr. Sahukhan also has a message for those that have been fully vaccinated.

Dr. Sahukhan says there have been now 13 deaths due to COVID-19 with 11 during the outbreak which started in April this year. One death is under investigation.

17 people have recovered in the last 24 hours which means there are 2,173 active cases of COVID-19 in isolation.

Fiji has now recorded 2,848 cases of COVID-19 since March, 2020 and we have had 653 recoveries.

Dr. Sahukhan adds since the outbreak started in April this year, they have tested 138,443 people for COVID-19.

She says they tested 2,913 people on Tuesday and there is now a high level of testing.

Our national 7-day average daily test positivity continues to increase and is now at 5.7%.