Fiji now has 42 active COVID-19 cases after confirmation that the Health Ministry has detected 6 more cases in the country.
Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong says all 6 cases were detected among Fijians who are currently in quarantine.
Doctor Fong says 4 of the 6 new cases come from soldiers who recently returned from overseas duties, some, who he says have been fraternising amongst each other during their 14-day quarantine in the border quarantine facility.
The Permanent Secretary says this is against the rules they have set in place.
Doctor Fong says the quarantine period of the soldiers had already been extended due to suspected breaches, and unfortunately, these bad apples mean that they have to reset the clock again for all soldiers within that unit, heroes who have already been separated from their families for far too long.
He says each of these new patients tested negative, multiple times, before this latest diagnosis.
Doctor Fong says that gives the Health Ministry a great level of confidence that they contracted the virus while in quarantine, very recently, from one of their colleagues.
He says this is unacceptable. Doctor Fong says no unnecessary, frivolous contact is worth an extra two weeks in quarantine, but that’s precisely what all of those in the Tanoa Hotel in Nadi will now need to endure, under much stricter watch, as they reset the clock. He stresses that Tanoa Hotel is not the problem as it is the virus that is the problem.
Doctor Fong also says thank God the ministry did so after learning that an earlier case had mingled among his companions otherwise, they would have had more cases, and more clusters, as COVID-positive soldiers returned to their families. He also says out of an abundance of caution, they will also be recalling all individuals discharged from the Tanoa Hotel from 12th of April 2021 to be screened, swabbed and tested. Doctor Fong says in addition to this cluster of soldiers, 2 cases were confirmed among family members of the woman from Wainitarawau in Cunningham.
He says these family members have been admitted in the Navua isolation unit since Wednesday April 21st and tested negative on their first 2 tests in quarantine.
Doctor Fong says as they have now tested positive after 5 days in quarantine, they are not considered a transmission risk to the public. The 6 new COVID-19 patients, all of whom are safely confined within quarantine or isolation units, brings Fiji’s total to 109 confirmed cases since our first case was detected on March 19th 2020.
He says he is saying “confirmed” because, as he has stressed before, the number of actual, undetected cases is likely higher – and that’s precisely why, for your health and the health of your loved ones, you should be wearing a mask at all times.
You must download careFIJI and keep it switched on whenever you are out of your home. Doctor Fong says if you are one of the more than 600,000 Fijians with a smartphone, there is no excuse not to have it downloaded.
He also revealed that the family from Makoi did not have the app installed or running, and that has made contact tracing far more complex than it ought to be.
The Permanent Secretary says lives are now at risk as a result.
The Permanent Secretary for Health Dr James Fong says the soldier from Makoi was looking after Novotel Hotel and came into contact with case 73 when he went to Tanoa Hotel in Nadi to pick up people who were ready to be discharged on 12th April.
Case 73 was the first border quarantine soldier announced to have been infected by the virus on Sunday, April 18th.
Dr Fong says case 73 tested negative on the 12th and was only found positive on the 17th of April.
When questioned by fijivillage if the soldier from Makoi was one of the people contact traced when case 73 tested positive, Dr Fong says it would have been much easier to contact trace the Makoi soldier if he just had the careFiji app on.
He says they only found out about the Makoi soldier when they diagnosed his wife and linked him to case 73.
Dr Fong says the contact tracing is only as good as the travel history the ministry receives because the soldier did not have the careFiji app on.
He adds that is why they have been asking Fijians to download the app for a long time now.
The Microbiological Diagnostic Unit at the Peter Doherty Institute in Melbourne has confirmed that recent cases of COVID-19 in Fiji are of the B1617 variant that was first detected in India.
Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong says their contact tracing investigations means that they already strongly suspected that this was the variant in question, as case 73, the soldier working in border quarantine only had contact with recent border quarantine cases who had travelled from India.
He says this newly-confirmed COVID variant is one of several dangerous new variants that have taken root in places like Brazil, South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States and in India – which is suffering a painful fourth wave the likes of which the world has never seen.
Doctor Fong says a single misstep could bring about the same “COVID tsunami” that our friends in India, Brazil, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States are enduring.
He says stopping that tsunami depends on two major factors: You, staying at home, and the Health Ministry, tracing and isolating all known cases.
Now everyone’s focus is how do they get a pass and they forget the fact that we are trying to stop the movement of the virus.
This was highlighted by the Permanent Secretary for Health Doctor James Fong when questioned on the number of people and vehicles that are coming in and going out of the containment zone borders in Lami, Suva, and Nausori.
Doctor Fong says this is the problem when they are trying to make something mandatory but everyone says they need to write in the law.
Doctor Fong says yesterday he was asked to write a check box on what people and businesses need to do in order to get a pass.
He says if he does give a check box, people will try and find a loophole to try and tick the check box.
Doctor Fong says recently they talked about some industries they will have to close because they are non-essential, but because they are manufacturing some medical equipment they will be given a dispensation to move around.
Please take note that any person in a containment zone in Lami, Suva, Nausori, Nadi, and Lautoka must not leave the containment zone they are in, with effect from 4am April 26th, 2021, unless authorised by the Permanent Secretary for Health and Medical Services.
This is clearly stated in the government gazette signed off by Doctor Fong.
Any person outside a containment zone must not enter another containment zone, with effect from 4am April 26th, unless authorised by the Permanent Secretary for Health and any person in a containment zone may only travel within the containment zone for the purposes of employment, accessing a service provided by an essential business, or an emergency.
According to Doctor Fong’s announcement on Sunday, that list includes air and rescue services, air traffic control services, ports services, civil aviation, telecommunications, food, and sanitary manufacturing plants, electricity services, emergency services, fire services, health, and hospital services, lighthouse services, meteorological services, mine pumping, ventilation and winding, sanitary services, supply and distribution of fuel and gas, power, garbage collection, transport services, water and sewage services, FNPF and FRCS, civil service, private security services, and roading services.
Fijivillage stresses that you cannot just get a pass to cross the containment zone as it would defeat the purpose to have a containment zone to contain the virus if people are allowed to travel between one zone to the next.
According to the gazette, the Lami Containment Zone is from Wainadoi Police Post to Tamavua-i-Wai Bridge.
The Suva Containment Zone is from Tamavua-i-Wai Bridge to Wainibuku Bridge near Rups Nakasi.
The Nausori Containment Zone is from Wainibuku Bridge nears Rups Nakasi to Logani Village in Tailevu on Kings Highway.
The Lautoka Containment Zone is from Lomolomo Police Post to Nacilau.
The Nadi Containment Zone is from the junction of Queens Road from Momi Bay to Lomolomo.
Doctor James Fong stresses that people should not move from one zone to the next unless the ministry gives approval after a risk assessment.
More than 93,000 people in Cunningham, Lautoka, Nadi, Wainivula, Caubati, Tacirua and Makoi have been checked for COVID-like symptoms and travel histories that may place them in the path of Fijians living with COVID-19.
Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong says they have more than 120,000 Fijians left to screen in these areas, and they need as many Fijians at home as possible to do that job well. He says their contact tracing is designed to flush out cases before they become clusters.
Doctor Fong says this strategy has served them well before but it is not infallible.
He says there are gaps, particularly when it comes to identifying passengers on public transportation.
The Permanent Secretary says the careFIJI app can close those gaps, but only if you have it installed and you keep it on. There have been 200,000 downloads of the careFiji app so far.
Please download the app and keep the Bluetooth on to help the Health Ministry in contact tracing.
Meanwhile Doctor Fong says house-to-house screening, as well, may reveal some of these outbreaks-in-waiting but to screen thoroughly, we must take this effort on as a society. He says there are more than 40 screening clinics open throughout Fiji.
Every Fijian should know which clinic is closest to them and if you feel unwell, go get screened.
If you know someone who is unwell, take them to be screened or stay home and call 158 so the teams can check on you.
The Health Ministry’s Head of Health Protection Doctor Aalisha Sahukhan says Fiji has recorded 109 cases of COVID-19 since the first case on March 19th 2020.
She says there have been 65 recoveries and 2 deaths.
Doctor Sahukhan adds with the 42 active cases, 5 are older border quarantine cases announced before Sunday, 13 are recently announced border quarantine cases and 24 are locally transmitted cases.
She says 48,677 tests have been conducted for
Doctor Sahukhan revealed that there have been 777 tests per day in the last 7 days on average.
She says there were over 500 tests yesterday.
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