Five new COVID-19 cases have been confirmed since the last update yesterday evening.
Permanent Secretary for Health Doctor James Fong says four of these cases are in Muanikoso from 2 separate households.
Doctor Fong says they were all located within the Muanikoso Containment Zone, and were picked up as part of the mass screening currently ongoing in that area. The other case is from Samabula and is an employee of a catering group that was providing food after a funeral gathering held at the Samabula cluster household.
This person was a close contact of a case from that cluster. There are now 97 active cases in isolation with the total number of cases recorded in Fiji since the first case in March 2020 now at 235. Doctor Fong says their recent experience tells them that other than within households, this virus has been spreading most commonly within workplaces and during social gatherings.
He says workplaces with large numbers of staff, like supermarkets, are at high risk for spread of the infection. Doctor Fong says they are urging all workplaces, including supermarkets and other commercial establishments to review their procedures and make sure they are complying with the protocols they have established to eliminate the spread. Commercial establishments and operators of public transport vehicles must enforce limits on capacity, enforce masking requirements, be diligent about cleaning and disinfecting surfaces, ensure staff do not work if they are sick, and make sure all employees comply and also enforce these procedures.
Everyone must download the careFiji app.
The Ministry of Commerce, Trade, Tourism and Transport will work with commercial business owners, particularly supermarkets and the transport industry to make sure that everyone understands the practices they must follow. Doctor Fong says they have also seen evidence that people have travelled on public transport or done shopping despite experiencing symptoms.
The typical symptoms of COVID-19 include fatigue, fever, sore throat, cough, shortness of breath, body aches, or a sudden loss of taste or smell. If you experience any of these symptoms, even one, and even if it is very mild, you must be screened immediately.
Go to the nearest mobile screening centre, wearing a mask and maintaining two metres physical distance between you and any other person you encounter. If you do not know where the nearest screening centre is located, call 158 and ask. Do not use public transport if you have any symptoms.
Doctor Fong says the responsible act is to assume the worst and act with extreme caution.
The Health Ministry is awaiting results from another 4,000 swab samples undergoing testing in Australia.
Permanent Secretary for Health Dr. James Fong says the majority of samples in this second batch are from the containment areas of Suva, Nasinu, Nausori, Nadi and Lautoka.
The results from 7,000 backlogged swab samples sent to Australia for testing have been received with all being negative except for one inconclusive sample from Lautoka that will be retested.
Dr Fong adds the high number of negative results is not unexpected as the majority of samples that were backlogged, and then shipped to Australia in this batch of 7,000, were from outside the containment areas, including a large number of samples from the Northern Division.
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