4 new COVID cases recorded, 2 of these are from Makoi

The worrying trend of increasing COVID-19 cases with no links to other cases continues as Fiji has recorded four new COVID-19 cases.

Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong says the first case is from Makoi and presented to Oceania Hospital with symptoms.

He says at this early stage of the investigation, this case has no known links to other cases.

The Oceania Hospital Outpatients Department was temporarily closed on Wednesday for contact tracing and decontamination. Anyone who potentially had contact with this case at the hospital has been quarantined.

Doctor Fong says the second case is also from Makoi and is an administration staff member of the Fiji Centre for Disease Control.

The Permanent Secretary says according to the Fiji Centre for Disease Control protocol, the staff was tested after returning this week from annual leave.

The next two cases are administrative staff at the Fiji CDC who had tested negative during routine testing earlier this week, but tested positive as part of contact tracing for this new case.

The three staff who have tested positive for the virus have been transferred to isolation facilities.

Doctor Fong says their investigations so far indicate that this cluster originated outside of the Fiji Centre for Disease Control and the virus was then brought in, as would be an expected consequence of community transmission.

He says apart from these three cases, all other Fiji CDC staff have tested negative so far, including all of the laboratory and medical staff in the centre.

The COVID tests are conducted at the centre.

Doctor Fong says they know that there was limited contact between administration staff and the lab personnel due to existing protocols, however, as a result of these cases, Fiji CDC has been separated, with staff onsite, or placed in quarantine facilities.

He says testing has temporarily halted while decontamination is being completed.

Doctor Fong says the onsite staff will continue processing samples after decontamination of the facility and they will be tested and retested frequently during their isolation period, similar to what is happening at Lautoka Hospital.