24-hour curfew in Suva and Nausori from 11pm Friday to 4am Tuesday

A 24-hour curfew will come into effect for Suva and Nausori from Friday, 14th May 2021 at 11pm until Tuesday, 18th May 2021 at 4am.

Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong says as is now standard practice, the Suva and Nausori containment areas from Tamavua-i-Wai Bridge to Logani will merge into one, single lockdown zone. Doctor Fong says with everyone safely at home, the Health Ministry teams will use that time to trace, identify, and test as many contacts as possible.

If their investigations reveal large numbers of contacts in other areas, such as Lami, the lockdown order will extend to those areas.

He says you have two full days to manage your shopping and purchase food and other essential items for your home.

If you are going out to do shopping, you must have careFIJI installed with the Bluetooth turned.

Doctor Fong says if you go to the supermarket and see a crowd, do not add to the problem. Call 158 and report the violation of COVID protocols.

He says businesses must take responsibility as well by ensuring mask-wearing, proper physical distancing, and mandating the use of careFIJI by all staff and shoppers.

For those who genuinely need an emergency food supply in the later part of the curfew, Doctor Fong says they are going to set-up another dedicated hotline for you to call so that food rations can be delivered to you. They will have details to announce on that number tomorrow.

New measures will also be coming into effect for the rest of Viti Levu while they conduct assessments on the need for a more sustained lockdown period.

From Saturday 15th May 2021, the curfew hours for the rest of Viti Levu will expand from 6pm until 4am every day.

Outside of Viti Levu, the curfew hours will remain from 11pm until 4am. Doctor Fong says this also means that if the lockdown of Suva and Nausori expires on schedule, the curfew hours from 6pm until 4am will apply in these areas as well.

He says the contact tracing and testing through the weekend will reveal the way forward for their containment strategy.

Doctor Fong says whatever course they take, they will provide you with ample notice ahead of time.

He knows we saw some panic-buying yesterday.

The Permanent Secretary says when he sees images of those crowds, he sees lives being put at-risk.

Doctor Fong says he sees the potential for ICUs being filled with dying patients and he admits, he reacted quite strongly to it.

He says he feared those runs on the supermarkets would lead to widespread transmission of the virus.

Doctor Fong hopes to be wrong about that.

He says these are uncertain times, this is a scary disease, and he understands why some of the people have made rash decisions.

The Permanent Secretary says he understands this situation can make us anxious and he understands the need to have your family well-provided for.

But he says there are real ways we can protect ourselves that align with the best available science and data.

Doctor Fong says we can wear masks, we can keep a proper distance of two metres between ourselves and others, we can wash our hands, we can install careFIJI and keep the Bluetooth turned on.

He also stresses that rumours, gossip, and unverified information will lead us down a much, much darker path.

The Permanent Secretary says we must stay the present course by staying calm and staying home as much as possible.