Health authorities are investigating the possible presence of the disease on Yaqeta island, located next to Naviti Island in the Yasawa Group after the swabbing of a deceased person in Yaqeta village returned a positive result.
The cause of the deceased’s death, from suspected drowning, is also part of police investigations.
Permanent Secretary Health Dr James Fong said their team at Nacula Health Centre is working closely with the mata ni tikina and villagers for necessary assessment and contact tracing work for the whole island.
“No other cases have been identified on the island to date,” Dr Fong said.
In Naviti, two cases of COVID-19 pneumonia are currently under observation at Kese Health Centre as surveillance and contact tracing continue on the island which has turned up another positive case.
The new case on Naviti was among 78 new infections reported in the West overnight. There were also five new cases on Kadavu and 45 in the central division for a total of 128 new cases recorded in Fiji for the 24-hour period that ended at 8am yesterday.
Having accounted for 1,687 recoveries, 12 COVID-19 deaths and 19 non-COVID deaths recorded during the reporting period as well, there are now 14,404 active cases in Fiji, of which 3,399 are located within the central division, 10,689 in the western division, four cases in the northern division and 312 cases in the eastern division.
There have been 47,923 cases during the outbreak that started in April 2021, and a total of 47,993 cases in Fiji since the first case was reported in March 2020.
