Category Public Advisory

Statement by Permanent Secretary for Health and Medical Services Dr James Fong.

Bula Vinaka, everyone.

We’ve run another 828 tests since yesterday with 1 new positive result. This is a new locally transmitted case of COVID-19. The patient is the 14-year-old daughter of the hotel staff who has been the central focus of our contact tracing. This daughter did travel with her mum to the funeral at Tavakubu on April 16th and 17th –– however she had no symptoms and tested negative when entered into quarantine on Sunday, April 18th. And now she has tested positive at day 4 of quarantine. This indicates that she was entered into quarantine before she became infectious. Let me explain: We know that this virus has an incubation period of up to 14 days. So a person may take up to 14 days to have enough virus in their bodies to develop symptoms or trigger a positive test result. Importantly, the level of virus that becomes detectable on a test also relates to how infectious that person is at the time. If someone has no symptoms and tests negative in the community, it is very unlikely that they were infectious, even if they later test positive during the 14-day quarantine period.

So we now have 6 locally transmitted cases that can all be traced back to the soldier who caught the virus while working in a border quarantine facility. 3 of these latest local cases were not infectious while they were in the community, we know this because they had no symptoms at the time, and were negative on their first test when they entered quarantine. It was only on their second test in quarantine that they tested positive.

Apart from the 6 locally transmitted cases, we have 14 from border quarantine. So we now have 20 active cases in isolation,

Our teams across Viti Levu have told us they are seeing a notable increase in mask-wearing among members of the public. That is great news and it means a great deal to us at the Ministry to see so many Fijians share our mission to keep Fiji safe. Our masks –– when we wear them properly–– are badges of compassion and concern for those around us. Homemade or store-bought, wearing masks lets our doctors, nurses, lab technicians, and members of our disciplined forces all know that –– through the long days and sleepless nights –– we are not alone in our work to stop the spread of COVID-19, the nation is with us; you are with us. And we will defeat this outbreak together.

Remember the guidance we have announced and published for homemade masks — it requires at least two layers of cloth for these masks to offer protection. We’ve announced that before, I just want to remind everyone again. Some people have asked about mask-wearing in their own personal vehicles. If you are alone in your personal vehicle, or with other members of your household, you do not need to wear a mask. But when you exit the vehicle, please place one on.

There is a nationwide curfew between 11 pm and 4 am every night. As announced yesterday, we are asking for restricted movement outside of the curfew hours from 7 pm tonight until 11 pm on Sunday evening. That means everyone should stay in their homes and only spend time with members of their household. It’s important that you do because my teams are going to use that window to conduct health screenings in targeted regions throughout Viti Levu. Health officials will also be checking Fijians for COVID-like symptoms and making sure they have not had contact with someone who was contagious for the virus.

During this window of restricted movement, businesses such as supermarkets and pharmacies may open at the discretion of their management. Public transportation may run, with mask-wearing enforced.

No other workplaces should open. So, save for shopping for food or medicine, or traveling for a medical emergency, there are no other reasons to leave your home. If you are out and about without an essential reason, the police will ask you to go back to where you reside. As we’ve seen before, this brand of early, decisive action is key to saving lives –– but it only works well when the public works with us. So please stay home as much as possible. Again, please remember that the normal curfew hours from 11 pm to 4 am are still in effect.

As I’ve said before, if these protocols are not followed, I will have to recommend lockdown measures for entire towns and cities.

There are still too many unknowns to determine how long the rest of our health restrictions will remain in place. More tests must be run; more time must be given to confirm that the virus is not lurking in some communities. If the numbers point to a wider outbreak, we won’t hesitate to escalate our response. But what we do know is that by staying home, you give us a much better chance at stopping the spread. If you are watching this from home, wonderful. If you aren’t, please start making arrangements to head home now. We’re urging businesses to close up shop well before 7pm so that staff and customers have time to head home. And remember, if you are heading home using public transportation –– wear a mask, and wear it properly.

The members of the media here today and around the country have a special responsibility in carrying these messages to the public. I hope the media have taken note by now: Reporting the facts is more important than reporting first. When you are in these briefings, please listen carefully to what I am saying. Our strategy is based on science. It carefully harnesses the resources at our disposal, and targets them where they can make the greatest difference. If you have a question about something I have said, ask it. Don’t put words in my mouth or ask me what you may wish I had said –– all that does is confuse well-meaning members of the public.

I was a bit disturbed by a couple of tweets that went out from a reporter who freelances for a number of media organizations outside of Fiji. Yesterday the reporter posted an incorrect tweet saying Fiji would be under a nationwide curfew starting tonight. That was wrong. We asked her to remove that tweet. Thankfully, she did. An apology tweet was posted however it also stated that the police would arrest people who were out without an essential reason which was misleading. During the window of restricted movement, the Fiji Police will be asking people to stay home. That is where we want you, at home.

I know that as a nation we can rise to meet this challenge. Most of us are abiding by the protocols we have in place. The vast majority of Fijians are doing the right things. But we have had a few instances of rule-breaking. After we established Moturiki Island as a screening zone, a gentleman was picked up on Ovalau after he swam across the channel. He’s with the Police now, and he won’t be swimming anywhere for the next 14 days until he is cleared from the screening zone. I know that may be funny to some people, but it is a real problem for our health officials. The nature of this pandemic can induce anxiety in a lot of people. It is a scary time, but don’t let that fear drive you towards bad decision-making. I want everyone watching to know, if my teams are in your community, they are there because they care. They care about you, they care about your family, they care about keeping our country safe. So please offer whatever cooperation and assistance that you can.

Today I was sent some awesome photos of food items –– donated by Mr Billy Singh of Kundan Singh –– being delivered to the families within the screening zone at Wainitarawau Settlement. Hotels –– like the Tanoa and the Crow’s nest –– have supported our surgical teams working in Sigatoka and Rakiraki. The Holiday Inn has helped provide meals and catering to our health officials. I want to thank Women in Business and the Fiji Chamber of Commerce and Industry for reaching out to their members — and to other businesses — to adhere to our health protocols. I make special mention of Tanoa Hotel. They have been with us from the very beginning and have supported us in many different ways. I hope to see other business organizations step up and do the same.

There are other operators out there aiding us at every turn. And across the country, small gestures of solidarity are taking place every day, most of which occur with little fanfare. Big or small, there is something all of us can do to ease the burden of this outbreak on those worst affected. This is a national team effort –– we’re all working to overcome the same mountain of adversity for the benefit of every family, business, and industry in Fiji, as well as the Fijian economy. So, if you are a business, and you know of some way you can help us, please call 158.

As I had announced, we are deploying COVID-19 vaccines to targeted groups in the West and Suva. As of this morning, we have begun administering vaccines to Parliamentary staff and Members of Parliament. Members of the media as well are being called to come forward to be vaccinated. I hope by this time next week, you’ve all joined us in receiving your first dose.

To the rest of Fiji: Stay safe, stay home, and, if you have an essential reason to leave the house, mask up!

Thank you.

Media Release                       

COVID-19 Update

Saturday, April 24th 2021

As announced by the Permanent Secretary for Health and Medical Services today, we have 1 new case of COVID-19. This is the 14-year-old daughter of the hotel staff who has been the central focus of our contact tracing (case 74). This daughter travelled with her mother to the funeral at Tavakubu on April 16th and 17th –– however, she had no symptoms and tested negative when entered into quarantine on Sunday, April 18th. And now she has tested positive on day 4 of quarantine. This indicates that she was entered into quarantine before she became infectious. As mentioned, she has been in quarantine since April 18th and will be transferred to an isolation unit in line with our protocol for positive cases.

With this latest case, there are now 20 active cases admitted into hospital isolation units. Five are older border quarantine cases announced before Sunday, April 18th. Nine are recently announced border quarantine cases, and six are locally transmitted cases linked back to the soldier who was infected while working in a border quarantine facility. Three of these latest local cases were not infectious while they were in the community, we know this because they had no symptoms at the time, and were negative on their first test when they entered quarantine. It was only on their second test in quarantine that they tested positive.

Fiji has had 87 cases in total, with 65 recoveries and 2 deaths, since our first case was reported on March 19th, 2020. 63 of these cases have been international travel-associated cases detected in border quarantine. And 6 recently announced cases are our first cases of local transmission in over 1 year.

A total of 46,423 COVID-19 laboratory tests have been conducted, with a daily average of 562 tests per day over the last 7 days. Daily testing has increased in line with the response to the recent local cases, with 828 tests conducted yesterday. Our overall test positivity is 0.2% and our 7-day average daily test positivity is 0.5%.

-ENDS-

Bula Vinaka.

I want to start today by thanking our sign language interpreter, Loriani Baledrokadroka, for helping us get our important announcements to everyone who needs to understand them. I’ve seen some comments online asking why she isn’t wearing a mask during these announcements. Some of you may not know it, but facial expressions are an important part of sign language –– As I explained yesterday, I need to be understood clearly by the public, that is why I am not speaking through a mask. The same applies to her. Vinaka, Loriani.

At the start of this outbreak, our projected cap for COVID-19 testing was 600 tests a day, which was already more than double our average daily rate. It’s clear that was an under-estimate of what your healthcare heroes can do. In a 24-hour marathon testing exercise, we have run more than 1,000 COVID-19 tests –– a single day record. And we are acquiring more GeneXpert machines to bolster that capacity.

We do have some good news to share today  –– we found our last minibus driver. He is safely quarantined at home and will be tested. Now we are just looking for the passengers of that minibus that travelled from the Lautoka minibus stand to Nadi at 5.30pm on Saturday April 17th. The minibus is white, it has a red painted front bumper with license plate number LM417. A photo of the minibus has been posted on the Fijian Government Facebook page and released to the media.  If you rode in this minibus from Lautoka  to Nadi that night, please call 158.

As of this afternoon, we have no new cases of COVID-19 to report at the border or in the community. That means we are still at 19 active cases (14 border quarantine cases and 5 locally transmitted cases). The three Fijians living on Moturiki we suspected may have been exposed to the virus have all tested negative for COVID-19. We are going to maintain the island as a containment area until the 14-day incubation period expires. However, these test results do confirm that these three Fijians were not contagious while they travelled to Moturiki from Lautoka, so Waicoka village in Tailevu ––where they stayed overnight ––is no longer considered a screening zone.

I want to start today’s brief by thanking those of you who are wearing masks in public –– and wearing them properly. That choice you’ve made is the best way you can honour the hard work of the Ministry to stop this virus from crippling Fiji and threatening the lives of our people. But more Fijians must follow your example –– otherwise our carelessness will cost us dearly.

Masks can be bought and they can be made. Homemade masks –– with at least two-layers of cloth –– offer some protection from spreading and contracting this virus. We have guidance about what your mask can and should look like on the Fijian Government Facebook page and we will advertise that guidance over radio. So, whether they are bought or made at home, there is no excuse for anyone in Fiji not to have a face-covering every time they leave the house.

If you are wearing your mask below your nose, it is no longer a mask, it is a mouthguard. The mask has to cover your nose and mouth to keep you and those around you safe. Seriously, a mask worn below the nose is hardly different than wearing no mask at all. This is not a box-ticking exercise. You shouldn’t only be wearing a mask because we have asked you to wear one –– you should wear a mask because you don’t want the virus and you don’t want to pass the virus on to others. Some of us may feel young and invincible. You aren’t. You –– or most certainly someone you love –– could contract COVID and end up in an ICU. Worse still, you could die. It’s happened around the world. Listen well, and act now. Don’t let personal tragedy be your teacher.

I’ve seen the images of crowded bus stands that have put well-founded fear in the hearts of many Fijians. These maskless crowds are hotspots waiting to happen. As we’ve seen, all it takes is one person at a funeral to ignite an outbreak. Just the same, all could it take is one maskless person on a bus or minibus to turn that vehicle into a super-spreader event on wheels. The same goes for bus stands, supermarkets, and shops.

That is why, from tomorrow, we are requiring mask-wearing on all public transportation.

All bus drivers, minibus drivers and taxi drivers must wear masks, and they should not allow riders who don’t wear a mask to enter their vehicles. LTA officers will be monitoring all public transportation––drivers who are not wearing masks won’t be allowed to drive. Passengers who are not wearing masks will be removed from public transport vehicles. If abuse is repeated, the LTA will stop some of these public transport vehicles altogether.

Masks work best when everyone wears them. But they are not a substitute for physical distancing. As much as possible, we must still keep two-metres of space between us and others, even when we are wearing masks. Buses and minibuses should also ensure strict physical distancing among passengers. That will not be convenient, we know that, but it is necessary. If this virus takes hold in our community, no one will be driving anyone, anywhere –– drivers and transportation operators must make this sacrifice now or they won’t be operating at all.

For all other businesses, customers should not be allowed to enter the premises unless they are masked. And the staff of these businesses should be leading by example by wearing masks and wearing them properly. The same restrictions apply here: We will shut down businesses that are not enforcing mask-wearing for customers and employees. And for all businesses and in all public transportation vehicles, all patrons must also have careFIJI downloaded on their phones and must keep it switched on. If they don’t have a phone, their contact tracing details must be registered.

Since yesterday, we’ve had 20,000 more downloads of careFIJI –– we still need more. I understand there are more than 600,000 smartphones in Fiji. Every one of them should have the careFiji app installed –– the efficiency of large-scale contact tracing depends on it.

As we head into the weekend, we’ll be limiting movement as much as possible. We know Saturday is a big market day. Everyone who goes to the market must wear a mask, and we are working with municipal councils to manage markets as safely as possible. Anyone who needs food, money, or medicine, can shop for it at supermarkets, open-air markets, banks, and pharmacies. Aside from those life-sustaining reasons, we need everyone to please stay home. Curfew hours will remain the same. However, the Fiji Police Force will be enforcing restricted movement across Viti Levu from tomorrow evening, Saturday April 24th, at 1900 hours, until Monday morning at 0400 hours, the 26th of April. Please spend this time at home. Pray at home. Eat at home. Fast at home. Celebrate with household members within your home this weekend. Stay home, save lives. If there is any message I’m asking Fijians to help me share through the weekend, it is that: Stay home, save lives.

If these protocols are ignored, or if our testing reveals additional cases, I will be forced to recommend a complete lockdown, in particular for the Suva, Nausori and Lami corridor. If we all follow the rules, that won’t need to happen. Do not treat this virus lightly –– Wear a mask, keep your distance, wash your hands often, and think very carefully about leaving your home, or else we’ll all be home all the time.

Someone watching right now may have COVID. If they stay still, the virus stays still. If they move, the virus will move with them and spread to others. That is why we should stay within our homes and only interact with the members of your households.

While you stay indoors surrounded by the comfort of family, my teams will use this window to run the widest-reaching screening effort we have ever conducted. Suva mobile screening starts tomorrow  with all 50 households within the screening zone established on Cunningham Road. We’ve already screened more than 20,000 Fijians in the West. That effort will press ahead through the weekend. 40 screening clinics are open across the country to all those who believe they may be experiencing COVID-like symptoms. There are cases out there –– we have to find them. So if you feel unwell, please come forward, be screened, be protected.

When my teams are in your community, please  be honest with them about how you are feeling and where you have been. They know what they are doing –– they have been through this before. Trust them. Support them. Cooperate with them. If they are in your community, they are there because they care about keeping you safe. I can tell you we would all prefer to be at home with our families. Instead, we are defending yours. That is our duty. That is what we will do every hour of every day to keep this virus from claiming Fijian lives.

I want to make another important point. You’ll notice I’m not wearing gloves. The Ministry has never asked Fijians to wear gloves during this pandemic for the simple reason that clean hands are much more hygienic.

Gloves are a problem because everything you touch stays on them. And unlike your hands, they cannot be easily washed. Gloves are useful for cleaning surfaces, but they are not useful for stopping person-to-person transmission of COVID-19, not in public, not in businesses, not on public transportation. What we all should be doing instead is washing hands at every opportunity with soap and water. If you see a sink, wash your hands. If you see sanitizer, use it.

Following our swabbing from the funeral yesterday, we have over 350 negative test results from the funeral contacts, with another 500 swabs to be tested after that. The numbers we get from these tests are critical to understanding the extent of the spread. We’re watching these numbers closely to determine our positivity ratio, which is the ratio of positive tests against total tests conducted –– that will be the single-most critical determinant of our next course of action. The moment these numbers tell us we have widespread transmission, we will step-up our health restrictions.

I know some people are hoping we’ll lock down the entire country. We will if we have to. But we have the know-how, the data, and the experience to combat this virus in a targeted way, and that is what we are doing. We’ll do far better –– over the long-term–– if Fijians adopt common sense measures to defend themselves now.

Defense is our best attack. This virus is an opportunist. It will take every opportunity that we give it –– whether that is a maskless conversation, a crowded market, or a careless decision to share a taki, bilo, or cigarette. We can defend ourselves with masks, we can defend ourselves with good hand hygiene and with physical distance, and we can defend ourselves by staying within our homes.

Before I take questions, yesterday I thanked Rosy Holidays and Pacific Destinations in the question time. I forgot to thank one of the businesses who aided our contact tracing in the  West. So I’d like to give an overdue vote of thanks to Tour Managers for their support.

I’ve been through the CBD in Suva and it’s been to see many businesses embracing COVID-safe protocols. I saw a sign on the door of Harrison’s that read: “no mask no entry”. Every sign on the door of every business in Fiji should say the same. If they don’t, if the virus continues to spread, the simple fact is most businesses will have to shut their doors for a very long time. Livelihoods will be lost. Economic activity will plummet. We’re all on the same team here –– we all want to become COVID-Contained again. So do your part, embrace your role, as businesses, as ordinary citizens, and let’s make Fiji safe again.

Last note–– more vaccines are here. Please register online, particularly if you are based in the West.

Vinaka.  Thank you.

Media Release                                                                   

COVID-19 Update

Friday 23^rd April 2021

As announced by the Permanent Secretary today, we have 0 new cases of COVID-19 to report.

There remain 19 active cases in isolation. Five are older border quarantine cases announced before Sunday April 18th. Nine are recently announced border quarantine cases, and five are locally transmitted cases linked back to the RFMF soldier who was infected while working in a border quarantine facility.

Fiji has had 86 cases in total, with 65 recoveries and 2 deaths, since our first case was reported on March 19^th 2020. 63 of these cases have been international travel associated cases detected in border quarantine. And 5 recently announced cases are our first cases of local transmission in over 1 year.

A total of 45,595 COVID-19 laboratory tests have been conducted, with a daily average of 493 tests per day over the last 7 days, and a weekly average of 1892 tests per week over the last 2 weeks. Our overall tests positivity is 0.2% and our 7 day average daily test positivity is 0.5%. Daily testing has increased in line with the response to the recent local cases, with 1114 tests conducted yesterday.

-ENDS-