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Media Release

COVID-19 Update

Friday May 21st 2021

There are no new cases to report as of 6pm today.

We now have more information about the 5 cases from the same household in Muanikoso, Nasinu that were announced earlier today. As mentioned, 1 member of the household is an employee of Extra Supermarket and known primary contact of one of the cases from that cluster. She was identified as a contact on Tuesday 11^th May and has been in home quarantine ever since. It is believed that she contracted the virus from the case at her place of work and then it spread within her household. The investigation by the response team has highlighted that her entire household also placed themselves in home quarantine from 11^th May; they remained at home, and enlisted the support of their extended family to maintain their quarantine; dropping groceries at their gate during the quarantine period.

Based on the results of the investigations, and due to the diligence of this family in maintaining their home quarantine, we will not be locking down Muanikoso at this time. We must commend the family for their decision to adhere to the home quarantine directive issued by the Ministry. A decision that undoubtedly worked to break chains of transmission and limit further spread of COVID-19 in the community.

One COVID-19 patient has recovered today, which means there are now 61 active cases in isolation facilities. 2 are border quarantine cases, 49 were locally transmitted, and 10 are under investigation to determine the source of transmission. Cases under investigation are considered as community transmission until proven otherwise.

Fiji has had 195 cases in total, with 130 recoveries and 4 deaths, since our first case was reported on March 19^th 2020.

A total of 83,980 COVID-19 laboratory tests have been conducted since we started testing in early 2020.

Due to the recent temporary shutdown of Fiji CDC, testing numbers had dropped, however this has recovered to pre-shutdown levels with the daily average of testing over the last 7 days now at 1711 tests per day. A total of 3034 samples were tested yesterday, a new daily record that has surpassed our target of 3000 tests per day. The 7 day average daily test positivity is at 0.7%, with test positivity at 0.2% in the last day. An average of 1.9 tests per 1000 population were conducted daily over the last 7 days, with 3.4 tests per 1000 population in the last day.

-ENDS-

COVID-19 Update

Friday, May 21, 2021

Case and Transmission Update 

We have five new cases to report as of 12pm today. These cases are members of one household in Muanikoso, Nasinu. One of these cases is an employee of Extra Supermarket. So all five of these cases have been under home quarantine following the discovery of that cluster last week. Contact tracing investigations are ongoing.

Our contact tracing for Case 190 (who was announced yesterday) from the Vunimono/Nadali cluster has identified him as being a potential high risk case for transmission. He is a driver for a security company and was working up until Wednesday, May 19th. Therefore, the public should expect to see extensive contact tracing activities ongoing in the Suva-Nausori area.

There are now 62 active cases in isolation. We have recorded 195 cases and four deaths in Fiji since recording our first case on March 19th 2020.

Screening and Testing Update 

The latest testing data will be reported once a day during the evening update.

There are 2625 primary contacts of previous cases who were being monitored in Suva. Out of the 2625, 1619 have been cleared, with 1006 still being followed up.

Additional Updates

The Kamikamica Health Centre in Lautoka has been thoroughly decontaminated and will reopen tomorrow at 8.00am.

A working group has been convened over the weekend to discuss the requirements for businesses to gradually resume operations with COVID-safe business plans. The recent case detected in an individual working for a security company, which is an essential business, highlights the need for all businesses to have extremely well-enforced protocols that mitigate the risk of infection for employees and the community at-large.

COVID-Safe Measures

We appreciate the identified contacts of existing cases who have adhered to home quarantine instructions. Your cooperation has made our task of containing the virus more manageable. We continue to ask those that are not under home quarantine to please stay home unless absolutely necessary. If you have an essential reason to leave your home, please wear a mask, maintain a safe physical distance of at least 2 metres between yourself and others at all times, and make sure you have careFIJI installed with bluetooth kept on.

We are confident more cases are present in the community. Through widespread adherence to our existing COVID-safe health measures, we can break new chains of transmission even as new cases are detected and eventually allow for lessened restrictions on movement and greater economic activity.

Media Release

The second dose of vaccination begins

Thursday, 20th May 2021

The Ministry of Health and Medical Services has started administering the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine this month. For the second dose of vaccination roll-out, the Ministry of Health is planning to set up teams for respective sites across the country. This will ensure that all Fijians will be able to access the vaccine without having to travel far or wait too long in queues. For the further convenience of the public, drive-through vaccination sites will be set up. The locations of the mobile vaccination teams will be announced early next week.

Those who are due to receive the second dose of vaccine can go to their nearest vaccination site to get the jab. It is NOT COMPULSORY that you receive the second dose from the same vaccination site where you received your first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Simply go to your nearest vaccination site or contact 158.

A reminder for the date of the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine will be sent to those who have been vaccinated with the first dose and had registered on the digital system. Individuals can check their vaccine cards to confirm their date of the second dose of vaccination.

Further to this, 50,000 COVID-19 vaccines will arrive in the country later this week from Australia. Next week, the Ministry of Health and Medical Services is expected to roll out the first dose of COVID-19 vaccination to the remaining front line workers and those who are constantly engaging with the public given the nature of their work such as public service vehicle drivers, supermarket staff, people residing in densely populated areas, individuals who are over 60 years of age, persons with disabilities and those who may have comorbidity issues such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, kidney disease, asthma, and other medical conditions.

Media Release

COVID-19 Update

Thursday May 20th 2021

The Ministry of Health and Medical Services is announcing 1 new case of COVID-19. The new case is a household contact of the latest Vunimono/Nadali cases announced yesterday. Contact tracing investigations are ongoing for this individual.

1 patient has recovered, which means there are now 57 active cases in isolation facilities. 2 are border quarantine cases, 45 were locally transmitted, and 10 are under investigation to determine the source of transmission. Cases under investigation are considered as community transmission until proven otherwise.

Fiji has had 190 cases in total, with 129 recoveries and 4 deaths, since our first case was reported on March 19^th 2020.

A total of 80,946 COVID-19 laboratory tests have been conducted since we started testing in early 2020. Due to the recent temporary shutdown of Fiji CDC, testing numbers have dropped, with the daily average of testing over the last 7 days at 1317 tests per day, compared to over 1700 per day before the shutdown. With the resumption of testing at Fiji CDC, and delivery of new GeneXpert machines to the divisional labs, a total of 2622 samples were tested yesterday. The 7 day average daily test positivity is at 0.8%, with test positivity at 0.04% in the last day. An average of 1.5 tests per 1000 population were conducted daily over the last 7 days, with 3 tests per 1000 population in the last day.

-ENDS-

COVID-19 Update

Thursday, May 20th, 2021

The Ministry of Health will begin to publish an update early each afternoon giving basic data available as of 6 am that morning. The more detailed evening statement will also continue as and when required. After today, we will be reliably on a 24-hour cycle, reporting updates for a 24-hour period, from 6:00 am to 6:00 am.

Case and Transmission Update

We have no new cases to report as of 6 am today. There are currently 57 active cases in isolation. We have recorded 189 cases and four deaths in Fiji since recording our first case on March 19th 2020.

Screening and Testing Update

The latest testing data will be reported once a day during the evening update. As announced earlier, we have a backlog of approximately 11,000 swab samples due to the temporary shutdown of Fiji CDC. 7,000 backlogged swabs were flown out to Australia today, with another 4,000 expected to depart on Saturday.

Please note that we will be lifting restrictions on specific lockdown areas as results become available. Decisions about containment areas will also await results from the backlog of tests.

COVID Reminder

COVID-19 affects different people in different ways. Some people become very ill and die. Others become very ill and recover. Some people have suffered serious health effects for many months after being infected. And some people are asymptomatic, meaning they show no symptoms at all. Asymptomatic infected persons are of particular concern because they carry the virus and can pass it on to others, but they don’t show any signs that would serve as a warning to others or even to themselves. It is essential to locate, test and isolate anyone who may be infected with the virus and not show symptoms. This one of the many reasons we have been tracing, testing, and quarantining contacts of cases so thoroughly since the very first case in Fiji.