The situation in Kadavu remains a major concern – Dr Fong

The Permanent Secretary for Health Dr James Fong says the situation in Kadavu remains a major concern.

There are now 131 active cases of COVID-19 in Kadavu with one death.

Dr Fong says the clinical scoping team in Kadavu has started to put together a response plan that will help to efficiently escalate their response to the expected wave of severe disease and deaths in Kadavu, however they do anticipate this to be a challenging exercise.

He says the public health team is continuing with screening and isolation protocols and a key part of the response will be to identify persons vulnerable to severe COVID and to pre-emptively engage them in a care plan that allows early identification of danger symptoms and signs and access to clinical care in a timely manner.

Dr Fong adds another important part of the response to mitigate severe disease will be community wide engagement to establish specific plans that help maintain oversight over vulnerable persons, and facilitate their timely transfer to a health care facility when required.

Dr Fong says they reiterate their call for maritime islanders not to engage in unauthorized travel to and from Viti Levu.

He further says all their current protocols to regulate domestic movements must be adhered to in order to prevent spread of the virus beyond Viti Levu.

Dr Fong is urging all village leaders and elders to support their current efforts to protect our maritime islands and to immediately report any suspicious movements into their community.