Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong confirms that another 64 COVID-19 cases have been recorded and the new cases stem from existing clusters.
10 cases are from the CWM Hospital cluster, 11 from the Nawaka cluster, 23 from the Navy cluster, 9 from the Navosai cluster, 1 from Waila and 10 from the COVID-19 Incident Management Team cluster.
Doctor Fong says for the 83 cases reported on Sunday, they can now confirm that 77 were connected to existing clusters.
23 are from the Incident Management Team cluster, 14 from the CWM Hospital cluster, 6 from the Waila cluster, 3 from Caubati cluster, 11 from the Navosai cluster, 4 from the RFMF cluster, 6 from the Shop N Save cluster, 9 from Samabula and 1 from the Nawaka cluster.
Doctor Fong says the potential for new clusters relates to the 5 cases in Naitasiri and 1 case in Tavua.
He also confirms a patient at CWM Hospital, who had tested positive while admitted, died on Sunday.
However, it has been determined that his death was caused by the serious medical illnesses for which he had been admitted to the hospital, and not COVID-19.
20 patients have recovered, which means there are now 515 active cases in isolation.
There have been 681 cases during the current outbreak that started in April 2021.
Fiji has recorded a total of 751 cases since the first case was reported in March 2020.
We have had 230 recoveries and 4 deaths due to COVID-19.
A total of 86,055 samples have been tested since this outbreak started in April 2021, with 126,476 tested since testing began in early 2020.
Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong says they are concerned about recurring incidents of people violating established protocols designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19 after confirmation that a man travelled from Naitasiri to have a grog session in Tavua Village. The individual travelled from Naitasiri and had a grog session with acquaintances in Tavua Village. Doctor Fong says with the support of the Tui Tavua, they have facilitated a lockdown of Tavua Village for an initial 4 days. They will screen all contacts and then plan a more targeted lockdown area in the village. The Health Ministry applauds the strong leadership of the Tui Tavua and other community leaders who are helping to rapidly escalate necessary public health containment measures. The Permanent Secretary says the support of all communities, outside or within containment zones, through the promotion and enforcement of COVID-safe behaviour is vital for our national effort to stop the spread of this virus. He says they know that this is not an isolated case of social gathering behaviour that is prolonging the COVID-19 outbreak in Fiji by allowing the virus to move further into our communities. Doctor Fong says the non-containment zones are still at risk of being breached. He says Fijians living in non-containment areas must also act as if the virus is already in their communities by avoiding social gatherings and observing the COVID safe protocols and guidelines they have issued. Doctor Fong says these breaches are potentially dangerous and endanger the health and lives of all Fijians. Meanwhile after thorough decontamination following some cases among staff in the Incident Management Team Warehouse, the warehouse facility has been fully re-opened allowing for a complete supply chain of essential items for our frontline officials. Grog session in Tavua Village results in lockdown By Vijay Narayan 07/06/2021
The Health Ministry confirms their contact tracing investigations have identified several of their vaccination personnel as secondary contacts of an earlier-announced COVID-19 case in Nadi.
As a result, the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines in Nadi has been temporarily halted until these staff can be swabbed and cleared.
Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong says while an overwhelming majority of new cases are linked to existing clusters, it is clear that the recent escalation in daily case numbers from the Central Division signals the increasing severity of this outbreak.
Doctor Fong says the emergence of clusters outside of the Lami-Nausori containment zone in Naitasiri is also a cause for concern, and the cases within the CWM Hospital, as well as within the COVID-19 Incident Management Team, are serious developments that have had an impact on their ability to respond.
Doctor Fong says we can expect more cases.
Therefore, now more than ever, they are urging every Fijian to consistently take heed of the measures they have announced to protect yourselves and your loved ones from this virus.
If you leave your home you should behave as if every single person you encounter is potentially a carrier of COVID-19.
Anyone can get COVID-19, but we can all reduce our risk by following these simple rules if we have to leave home: Wear a well-fitted mask, maintain physical distancing of at least 2 metres between yourself and others, download the careFIJI app and activate your Bluetooth, avoid crowds and crowded, confined places and wash your hands frequently with soap and water or hand sanitiser.
Do not attend or organize social gatherings.
Don’t meet up with friends.
Don’t share a bowl of grog with workmates after work or anyone outside your household.
Don’t visit family that live outside your home. It is safest to avoid interacting with anyone who is not a member of your household as much as possible.
Stay tuned for the latest news on our radio stations
