The Ministry of Health and Medical Services is announcing 1 new border quarantine case of #COVID19.

This is a 30-year-old male who travelled from Manila, Philippines, transiting through Hong Kong, arriving in Nadi on flight FJ1394 on February 18. He returned a weak positive result during routine testing while undergoing mandatory 14-day quarantine in a Government-designated border quarantine facility in Nadi.

He currently has no symptoms and had tested negative on pre-departure testing before departing for Fiji. Based on the weak positive test result, and current lack of symptoms, he is considered a historical case, who was likely infected and recovered multiple weeks or months before entering Fiji. It is known that non-infectious fragments of the virus can remain detectable, and cause a positive test result long after the infection has passed, and even after previous negative test results; therefore it is unlikely that this person is currently infectious. However, management of this case will follow our standard protocol for positive cases.

The individual was transferred to the isolation ward at the Lautoka hospital following the standard protocol for COVID-19 cases. The frontline border quarantine staff that may have had any contact with the case will be monitored and tested as a precaution according to our protocols.

A 58-year-old female also returned a weak positive test result during routine testing while undergoing mandatory 14-day quarantine in a Government-designated border quarantine facility in Nadi. She had travelled from Panama City, Panama, transiting through Los Angeles, arriving in Nadi on flight FJ1811 on February 18.

This individual had tested positive and was confirmed as a COVID-19 case in Panama in December 2020. She recovered and tested negative during subsequent tests, including a pre-departure test, before departing for Fiji. Based on the weak positive test results, her current lack of symptoms, and history of testing positive in Panama, this is considered a historical case, which will not be counted as a new case for Fiji. She is also unlikely to be infectious, though as a precaution, she has also been isolated.

Fiji has now had 57 cases in total, with 1 active case, 54 recoveries and 2 deaths, since our first case was reported on March 19, 2020. The last 39 cases have been international travel-associated cases detected in border quarantine. It has been 312 days since the last case was detected outside border quarantine on April 18, 2020.

A total of 29,626 laboratory tests have been conducted, with a daily average of 160 tests per day over the last 7 days, and a weekly average of 1048 tests per week over the last 2 weeks.

For more information on COVID-19 please visit the Ministry of Health and Medical Services web page http://www.health.gov.fj/covid-19-updates/

The next scheduled update will be on Friday 26 February.