The Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong says long COVID cases will put a strain on Fiji's health system in the longer term but at the moment, the system is coping again after months of being stretched and he believes that the worst is behind us.
According to World Health Organisation, the most common symptoms of long COVID-19 includes shortness of breath, cognitive dysfunction or brain fog and fatigue. Other symptoms include chest pain, trouble speaking, anxiety or depression, muscle aches, fever, loss of smell and loss of taste.
While speaking to Radio Australia, Dr. Fong confirms he has seen examples of long COVID and has made a request with some of his Australian colleagues.
He says some of the medical experts have offered to come in to provide some support.
Dr. Fong further says if they have specific strategies that are relevant to our context that they can implement, then to a large extent, we can manage it.
The Permanent Secretary has also confirmed that our current indicators look like that we have reached the peak and we are on the resolution side of the second wave of the virus.
According to the Heath Ministry’s daily COVID-19 update, there are currently 117 COVID-19 patients admitted to the hospital. 12 patients are considered to be in severe condition and 3 are in critical condition.
Dr. Fong says most of the patients are asymptomatic, most of the patients do not require oxygen and some of the critical care equipment are actually sitting in reserve.
He adds based on this, Fiji is well within our capacity when dealing with critical care.
