Fiji recorded 35 new COVID-19 cases yesterday which includes 3 cases from the Ministry of Health Headquarters COVID-19 Incident Management Team and 11 cases from the Management Team’s warehouse in Lami.
Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong says 1 is a case from the Navy cluster that was reported last night while the remaining 34 new cases were recorded today.
10 cases are from the CWM Hospital cluster, 5 cases from the Navosai cluster, another 2 cases from the Navy cluster, and 1 case from the Nadali cluster.
Doctor Fong says there are 2 new cases from Navosai and Tamavua under investigation to determine any links to other cases.
The 3 cases from the Ministry of Health’s Headquarters COVID-19 Incident Management Team were picked up as a result of a program of routine swabbing of the health staff.
Doctor Fong says more than 80 staff at the Ministry of Health’s Headquarters at Dinem House were swabbed, with all but the 3 returning negative results.
He says the staff identified as primary contacts of the 3 cases will quarantine for 14 days while secondary contacts, who are contacts of the primary contacts, will self-quarantine at home for at least 4 days, awaiting results of day 4 swabs of the primary contacts.
6 patients have recovered, which means there are now 378 active cases in isolation. There have been 501 cases during the current outbreak that started in April 2021. Fiji has recorded a total of 571 cases in Fiji since the first case in March 2020, with 189 recoveries and 4 deaths.
195,169 people have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, AstraZeneca so far while 4,615 people have received the second dose.
Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong says this means 37% of Fijians have received the first dose, and 0.86% have received the second dose.
From 31st May through yesterday, 59,209 individuals received the first doses of the vaccine nationwide and 327 received the second doses.
Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong says we know that if we simply stay isolated and not come into contact with another person, the COVID-19 virus would disappear after 14 days.
However he says unfortunately, we can’t do that, so we need to employ other effective preventative measures.
Doctor Fong says the most important among them are mask-wearing and social distancing.
He says it is distressing to see that after all these months, there are still people who refuse to accept and follow these simple measures.
Doctor Fong says yes, they are inconvenient, but they are necessary and they are effective.
He says if we all follow those practices, we can make great progress in stopping this virus.
The Permanent Secretary says we also know that testing is extremely useful in preventing the spread of the virus because it allows them to identify people who have the virus and isolate them appropriately.
The stationary screening and mobile screening clinics screened 18,611 people yesterday from which 2582 persons were swab tested.
He says that action has two purposes - it prevents positive patients from transmitting the virus to others, and it allows health care workers to observe them and provide medical attention when needed.
The Ministry urges everyone to cooperate with the surveillance teams and to agree to be screened and swabbed.
Doctor Fong says it could save your life and the lives of others, and you will be doing your part to keep Fiji safe.
Despite the recent development with the Incident Management Team, the team with the leadership of the Permanent Secretary remains fully engaged in spearheading and facilitating every aspect of the current whole of Government response to the outbreak in Fiji.
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