Lice Movono
Suva, June 22, 2021
Trans-Tasman medics arrive-Australian Medical Association team leaving for Fiji
Fiji continues to record alarming increases of Covid-19 another 126 more cases recorded and covid-19 related death.
A 42-year old male covid patient who was admitted for leptospirosis and tested positive for Covid-19 during his admission. His death is still being investigated to determine if it was caused or accelerated by Covid-19.
Health Ministry Permanent Secretary Dr James Fong said that 59 people have recovered up and that there are now 1542 active cases although there have now been 2020 cases in just over eight weeks.
A team of seven Australian and New Zealand medics arrived in Fiji last night and will undergo a shortened quarantine period before getting to work.
Additional isolation facilities
The government no longer provides a breakdown of the cases but the most recent figures show infections in Nadi, in hotels used as quarantine facilities for medical staff who are either part of the response or who have completed shifts at the country’s major hospitals.
Dr Fong said that increases in new cases have been from Lami, a town just outside the capital Suva, one of three municipalities hit hardest by this outbreak.
“The Ministry is working with other government agencies and the community to establish additional isolation facilities in the Lami area to cater for the positive cases. Additional isolation facilities have also been pursued in the Nausori area to complement the current capacities and cater for positive cases from the Nausori area. Members of the public are advised to continue to practise Covid-19 safe measures to protect themselves, their families, and their communities,” he said.
However Dr Fong said his team can now see community transmission on a geospatial map put together by the Ministry of Lands and Mineral Resources which itself has also recorded close to 30 cases of Covid-19.
Geospatial information
“An important part of our Covid-19 response was to use various technologies available to us, and these technologies were of immense benefit to our organizing of information for planning, implementation and deployment of our resources,” Dr Fong said.
He said that one such technology is the use of geospatial information, which greatly assisted his team in organising information collected from the ground and presented in a map that could be understood by my team and those on the ground.”
The Covid-19 Dashboard allows users to view the case spread which Dr Fong said should give the “public situational awareness of where the active cases are and follow the relevant safety guidelines put in place by my Ministry to protect themselves and their families.”
Meanwhile another 50,000 of the AstraZeneca vaccines have arrived, restarting vaccination in 28 vaccination sites and 5 mobile teams on Viti Levu.
48-hour lockdown
A 48-hour lockdown is in force for a Fijian settlement near the capital Suva amid the Covid-19 crisis in the country.
The restriction came into effect at 4 am today local time and will end at 4 am on Thursday.
The Health Ministry said that the aim of locking down Qauia Settlement in Lami is to conduct rapid screening, tracing, swabbing and quarantine or isolation of cases of interest in the area.
Lami Town is one of the fastest-growing clusters in the country with dozens of positive people already confirmed there.
The Ministry said that the lockdown is also an opportunity to check for Covid-like symptoms and travel/movement histories that may have put residents in the path of Fijians living with the coronavirus.
Fiji has over 1500 active cases in isolation and five deaths reported since the April outbreak.
Lice Movono is RNZ Pacific correspondent based in Suva. The above story has been published under a Special Arrangement with www.rnz.co.nz
The above story is sponsored by:
