Permanent Secretary for Health, Dr James Fong says they have been advised that China is now open for inward and outward travel, and given the high level of the COVID-19 outbreak in China and the possibility of variant formation, they are ready to review some public health border measures.
He says at present the USA, Japan, India, South Korea and Taiwan have announced that all passengers arriving from China have a pre-departure COVID test.
The Permanent Secretary says their data indicates that we have a high level of immune protection given the low impact the current wave is having on admission capacity.
He says the current wave in China is driven by known variants.
Dr Fong says China and the countries that receive passengers directly from China have the ability to surveil for variants.
He says we also have the in-country capacity now to surveil for variants.
The Permanent Secretary says as such, Fiji’s stance is similar to that taken by our Australian colleagues.
He says no new travel restrictions have been put in place, however, we also do not rule out the possibility of travel restrictions in the future.
