Two more people tested positive for COVID19 in Fiji, one a 53-year-old man who Fijian authorities have not been able to link back to the existing cluster.
The man, a caretaker of the Ra Provincial Office showed symptoms of COVID19, in his case, body aches when he visited the Nanukuloa Health Centre on 24 April. The man has been placed in the isolation ward at Lautoka Hospital while his family members have been quarantined at the Ra Special School.
PS Health Dr James Fong says that they needed to investigate the case further, which will entail looking into his contacts as Fiji Police establishes Naiserelagi Village, Nanukuloa Village and Dokonavatu Settlement as containment zones.
“Fifty primary and secondary contacts were identified and screened for fever and symptoms. All households in Nanukuloa Village, Naiserelagi Village and Dokonavatu Settlement have been informed to stay home until further notice,” Dr James said.
But, he has not ruled out the chances of further transmission.
“There are others out there who may have had contact with this individual. We need all Fijians living in the Rakiraki area to be alert to any potential COVID-19 symptoms; and if you’re feeling unwell, follow this man’s example and either visit your nearest screening clinic or dial 158 for the Ministry of Health to come to your home to check on you. There are screening clinics at the Rakiraki Divisional Hospital tent, Nasau Health Centre, Namarai Health Centre, Nanukuloa Health Centre, Nasau Health Centre, and in Rakiraki Town, there is a Screening tent erected just opposite the police station. And wherever you go, turn on the careFIJI app.”
The second case is a 25-year old male who had stayed at the house of the 29-year-old woman from Makoi, He has been moved to an isolation unit in Colo-I-Suva. His’ primary quarantine has also been placed under quarantine.
“We established that he was a close contact through our contact tracing, and we tested him because of that close contact despite the fact that he had no symptoms.”
With these latest cases, there are now 44 active cases in isolation. Five are older border quarantine cases announced before Sunday, 18 April. Thirteen are recently announced border quarantine cases, 25 are locally transmitted cases, and 1 is under investigation.
Fiji has had 111 cases in total, with 65 recoveries and two deaths, since the first case was reported on March 19 2020.
A total of 49,362 COVID-19 laboratory tests have been conducted, with a daily average of 839 tests per day over the last 7 days, and a weekly average of 3485 tests per week over the last 2 weeks, with a record 5169 tests done last week. Testing has increased in line with the response to the recent local cases, with 685 tests conducted yesterday. Testing is expected to increase with today’s delivery of 4 new GeneXpert machines. Our overall test positivity is 0.2% and our 7-day average daily test positivity is 0.6%.
