We owe a lot to our front-line heroes to keep Fiji COVID-Contained – PM

Prime Minister, Voreqe Bainimarama says with global coronavirus infections surpassing 40 million, most people on earth live under constant threat of infection from the deadly coronavirus but fortunately that is not in Fiji.

While speaking to the front-line workers at Nadi International Airport today, Bainimarama says our success in dealing with COVID-19 is owed to our nurses, doctors, lab technicians and the members of our disciplined forces who have kept Fiji COVID-Contained.

Bainimarama says this pandemic is the most sudden and devastating global event in 100 years. He says every nation was caught on their heels but in those crucial early months, Fiji was one of the few which did everything right.

He says we have since achieved the world’s most remarkable record at containing this deadly disease. Bainimarama says some countries are COVID-free because they shut their borders completely, even to their own people, and never had the coronavirus.

He says Fiji actually dealt with an outbreak and, together, we beat it. The Prime Minister says Fiji systematically identified and quarantined every known contact of every single case in the country and broke every chain of transmission.

He says even when Cyclone Harold struck us smack in the middle of our outbreak, the containment campaign was not blown off course.

Bainimarama says through it all, we have never turned our backs on Fijians around the world. He says with stringent infection protocols in place, we have safely repatriated our people without risking public well-being.

The Prime Minister says we have now gone 186 days without a new case outside of a secure border quarantine facility.

He says many of the measures we implemented have been replicated elsewhere such as mandating quarantine for healthcare workers, the use of disciplined forces to monitor our border quarantine facilities, and the mandatory testing of those in border quarantine before release.

He says we should not only be proud of what we have done, but of how we have done it.

Bainimarama says when people are dealing with a stressful situation like quarantine or isolation, that quality of care means a great deal. He assured the front-line workers that it does not go unnoticed, and it will not be forgotten.

He confirmed that Fiji recently confirmed a new border quarantine case of the coronavirus in a man who travelled here from India on the 5th of October. Bainimarama says our strict infection control protocols mean he does not present a risk to the public.

The Prime Minister says he is in stable condition at the Lautoka Hospital Isolation Ward.

Minister for Health, Doctor Ifereimi Waqainabete and Defence Minister, Inia Seruiratu were also present at the airport.