Melbourne Lab confirms that recent cases of COVID-19 in Fiji are of the dangerous B1617 variant that was first detected in India

The Microbiological Diagnostic Unit at the Peter Doherty Institute in Melbourne has confirmed that recent cases of COVID-19 in Fiji are of the B1617 variant that was first detected in India.

Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong says their contact tracing investigations means that they already strongly suspected that this was the variant in question, as case 73, the soldier working in border quarantine only had contact with recent border quarantine cases who had travelled from India.

He says this newly-confirmed COVID variant is one of several dangerous new variants that have taken root in places like Brazil, South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States and in India – which is suffering a painful fourth wave the likes of which the world has never seen.

Doctor Fong says a single misstep could bring about the same “COVID tsunami” that our friends in India, Brazil, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States are enduring.

He says stopping that tsunami depends on two major factors: You, staying at home, and the Health Ministry, tracing and isolating all known cases.