The Ministry of Health and Medical Services is announcing 4 new border quarantine cases of COVID-19. All 4 border quarantine cases were tested positive during routine quarantine testing while undergoing mandatory 14-day quarantine in Government-supervised border quarantine facilities in Nadi.

The first new border quarantine case is a 42-year-old female who travelled to Fiji from New Delhi, India, arriving in Nadi on flight GA8250 on February 24.

Following the positive test result, she was transferred to the isolation ward at Lautoka hospital. She has developed symptoms and is in a stable condition.

The second border quarantine case is a 35-year-old male who travelled to Fiji from Bangalore, India, transiting through New Delhi and arriving in Nadi on flight GA8250 on February 24. He returned a weak positive result, indicating there was little viral material in the sample, which also may not be viable.

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. Therefore, this is considered a historical case of COVID-19. However, he has been transferred to the isolation ward at Lautoka hospital, and the management of this case will follow our standard protocol for positive cases.

The third and fourth border quarantine cases are a 12-year-old male and a 55-year-old female who travelled together to Fiji from Sacramento, United States of America, arriving in Nadi on flight NZ952 from Auckland on February 25. Both returned weak positive test results during routine testing in border quarantine and have no symptoms. They are both currently considered historical cases of COVID-19 and will be managed according to our standard protocol for positive cases within the isolation ward of Lautoka hospital.

Since our first case was reported on March 19, 2020, Fiji has now had 63 cases, with 7 active cases currently admitted at the Lautoka hospital isolation ward, 54 recoveries and 2 deaths. The last 45 cases have been international travel-associated cases detected in border quarantine. It has been 319 days since the last case was detected outside border quarantine on April 18, 2020.

A total of 31,071 laboratory tests have been conducted, with a daily average of 264 tests per day over the last 7 days, and a weekly average of 1162 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 5 March.