Four people that were monitored for coronavirus have tested negative

The four people that were monitored for coronavirus now known as COVID-19 have tested negative.

The Ministry of Health says it received test results from Melbourne last night.

It says there are no confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 in Fiji. 

The four that were isolated included a 15-month-old-girl who arrived from the United States of America, a 37-year-old Fijian woman who returned from Italy and a three-year-old Fijian boy and his 26-year-old mother who returned from Bali and Singapore. 

Health Minister Doctor Ifereimi Waqainabete is calling on the people of Fiji to work together and to ensure that we do everything right to overcome the coronavirus now known as COVID-19.

Although there are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Fiji, Doctor Waqainabete is calling on people to start taking the necessary precautions. 

He says personal hygiene is very important as you have to keep washing your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds and avoid touching your face especially your mouth, nose and eyes.

The Health Minister says isolation and containment is also very important as they had done during the measles campaign in Fiji. 

Doctor Waqainabete says as the symptoms of coronavirus are very similar to many other respiratory illnesses, it is expected that with time the Ministry will investigate more persons with relevant travel history and symptoms related to coronavirus. 

He stresses that although there are no confirmed cases in Fiji, people should also start taking precautions and stop shaking hands with people.

When asked on a lot of people having grog sessions in the country, people mixing the grog and sharing one bilo, Doctor Waqainabete says people should take the precautionary measures and be smart about things.

There are now over 90,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus globally with over 80,000 cases alone in China. Over 3,000 people have died worldwide and most deaths have been recorded in China.

Coronavirus may infect up to 70% of world's population, expert warns

One of USA’s top experts on viruses, Marc Lipsitch from Harvard University cautions that 40 to 70% of the world's population will get COVID-19, and from that number, 1% of people who get symptoms, the disease caused by the coronavirus, could die.

Lipsitch has told CBS News that the virus can spread rapidly and people can transmit it before they know they are infected.

He says the 40 to 70% is a proportion of the adult population infected. Lipsitch says they know that some people who get this infection have no or almost no symptoms whatsoever. He says what we don't know is how many there are like that.

Lipsitch says the susceptibility to symptomatic infection seems to go up strictly with age, and especially up at the very oldest ages. He thinks it is now almost inevitable that this will transmit in a global fashion and take a big toll on essentially the entire globe.

How can you prevent yourself from getting coronavirus and other diseases?

•Frequently clean hands soap and water or an alcohol-based hand rub

•Avoid touching your face – especially your mouth, nose and eyes

•When coughing and sneezing cover mouth and nose with flexed elbow or tissue – throw tissue away immediately and wash hands

•Avoid close contact with anyone who has fever and cough – stay at least 1 metre away

•Avoid travel to mainland China, Iran, Italy and South Korea