Health Ministry’s Permanent Secretary Dr James Fong says thousands of Fijians received text alerts on Wednesday alerting them that they may have had contact with some of the new cases confirmed at Extra Supermarket.
Dr Fong says their contact tracing investigation has since narrowed that number of contacts, and they have let some of those people know they are no longer considered to be at high risk of exposure but he hopes that experience has taught everyone how easily even one case can spark an outbreak, and how high the risks of leaving your bubble can be.
Dr Fong says it has also taught us how vitally important it is for us all to be using the careFIJI app with our Bluetooth switched on, whenever we are in public.
He further says there are currently 52 known active cases of COVID-19 in the country and from that number of cases, there are already thousands of primary and secondary contacts, stretching his contact tracers to their limit.
Dr Fong adds that the careFIJI app eases that growing burden and its technology does not depend on the limits of human labour.
He says the app does not get tired, it does not take breaks, it works 24/7 to save your life, and the lives of your loved ones, by stopping the spread of the virus as quickly as possible.
Dr Fong says the app does not drain your battery, it does not burn through your data and anyone who tells you otherwise is lying to you.
