The Ministry of Health has announced new restrictions and guidelines on sea travel between Viti Levu, Vanua Levu and the maritime islands effective from today due to the COVID-19 outbreak in the Northern division and a number of islands in the Eastern division.
Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong says in light of the high prevalence of COVID-19 in Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, travellers on boats between Viti Levu and Vanua Levu will not require pre-departure testing before travelling.
He says however, strict adherence to personal COVID safe measures during the travel should be maintained such as mandatory masking, personal hand gel for hand hygiene and ships to ensure that soap is available throughout the trip, careFIJI app is on and passengers are fully vaccinated with 2 or more doses.
Dr. Fong adds Ministry officials will be closely monitoring the implementation of the new travel protocol.
He further says travellers on boats from Viti Levu to Eastern division maritime islands that are currently experiencing disease outbreaks will be restricted to travellers for essential services only.
These include teachers, nurses, Government staff on official trips, workers and their families who are getting posted or transferred to the islands and permanent island residents who came to Viti Levu for the holidays and are returning to their homes without the need to come back to Viti Levu in the immediate future.
The Permanent Secretary says this measure is to limit unnecessary population movement into the islands as the Ministry is now facing challenges in the medical evacuation of COVID cases to the main hospitals in Viti Levu as the operations of the contracted medevac providers are also affected by the current outbreak.
Travellers on boats from the Eastern division islands to Viti Levu who have been identified as positive cases or close contacts of cases will be required to complete 10 days of isolation in their homes on the islands, be symptoms free and with no pre-departure testing required before they are allowed to board the boat back to Viti Levu.
Dr. Fong says their team on the islands will ensure that these amended protocols are adhered to to protect the travelling population as well as the limited health care capacity on these islands.
He adds medical teams and supplies are being set up and being deployed to maritime islands communities reporting a surge in positive cases.
