Fiji’s active coronavirus case has risen to 19, after eight more people, including an infant, were today confirmed positive for the virus.
Of the eight, two are Fiji’s latest locally transmission cases emanating from the same cluster headed by the 33-year-old military officer or the country’s case 73, while six are new border quarantine cases.
The two locally transmission cases are the seven-month-old son and a 14-year-old daughter of a 40-year-old woman from Wainitarawau in Cunningham otherwise known as the country’s case 78, whose positive diagnosis was announced yesterday. The 40-year-old woman, authorities say was a close contact of the hotel quarantine worker or case 74.
The two children initially tested negative when their sampled were collected on Tuesday 20 April, the day they were transferred to the isolation unit at Navua Hospital. Their samples were collected again yesterday, on Wednesday 21 April, and turned out positive.
“The test results indicate that the children are likely in the early stages of infection, and they were unlikely to be infectious when out in the community. However, as a precaution, contact tracing is being conducted for these two new cases,” the Ministry of Health said.
“For the 6 border quarantine cases: 5 are travelling family members of two border quarantine cases announced on 17 April. This family had travelled to Fiji from Manila, Philippines, arriving in Nadi on flight NZ952 from Auckland on 8 April 8. They tested positive during routine testing while completing 14 days of quarantine in a government supervised border quarantine facility. The sixth border quarantine case is a 38-year-old-male, who travelled from Malaysia to Fiji, also arriving in Nadi on NZ952 from Auckland on 8 April.
“With these latest cases there are now 19 active cases admitted into hospital isolation units. Five are older border quarantine cases announced before Sunday 18 April. Nine are recently announced border quarantine cases, and five are locally transmitted cases linked back to the RFMF soldier who was infected in a border quarantine facility.
| Total active cases in isolation= 19 (14 border quarantine cases and 5 locally transmitted cases) |
“There are also over 300 primary and secondary contacts of recent cases quarantined in border quarantine facilities in Nadi.”
The latest cases mean Fiji has had 86 cases in total, with 65 recoveries and two deaths, since its first case was reported on 19 March 2020. 63 of these cases have been international travel associated cases detected in border quarantine. Five recently announced cases are first cases of local transmission in over a year.
A total of 44,481 COVID-19 laboratory tests have been conducted, with a daily average of 394 tests per day over the last seven days, and a weekly average of 1892 tests per week over the last two weeks. Daily testing has increased in line with the response to the recent local cases, with 994 tests conducted yesterday.
There are currently 1063 people who have recently arrived from overseas undergoing mandatory 14-day quarantine in government supervised border quarantine facilities in Nadi. Effective midnight today, no international passenger travels will be allowed, except for medical reasons and other passengers as approved by the Permanent Secretary for Health and Medical Services.
PS Health Dr James said they are expecting around 90 people to arrive via repatriation flights tonight before the midnight cut-off sets in.
