STATEMENT BY THE PERMANENT SECRETARY FOR HEALTH & MEDICAL SERVICES DR. JAMES FONG - 03.06.21

03/06/2021


We are reporting 28 new cases as of 6pm today. 23 of the new cases are linked to the existing clusters that follow: 

Nawaka Nadi cluster- 2
CWMH cluster - 1
FICAC cluster -4
Navy cluster-  16

3 are close contacts of a case under investigation from Caubati announced yesterday
1 is under investigation with no known links to other cases at this stage
1 case from Navosai Narere was tested after presenting to Valelevu Health Centre with symptoms, investigation is ongoing into any links between this case and other cases. 

2 patients have recovered, which means there are now 349 active cases in isolation. There have been 466 cases during the current outbreak that started in April 2021.

We have recorded a total of 536 cases in Fiji since the first case in March 2020, with 183 recoveries and 4 deaths. 

CWMH Update
Current investigations into the situation at CWM Hospital indicate that so far the transmission was limited to specific areas of the hospital and this has allowed us to maintain services such as maternity and paediatrics, where our testing revealed no positive cases. Corridors to the affected areas have been closed. Our FEMAT teams will set up field units at Vodafone Arena and FMF Arena to provide services that will complement the services we can currently provide at the CWM facility. 

Vaccination Update
We have administered 43,406 first doses and 279 second doses in Fiji from Monday, 31 May through yesterday. Most of the vaccinations this week have been in the Central and Western Divisions, where the current outbreak is centred. Since the beginning of the vaccination effort, a total of 34% of the national population has received one dose of the vaccine, and 3% have received two doses. Vaccinations will continue through Saturday and resume again on Monday, 7 June.

Update on our Surveillance and Containment Teams
While members of the Frontline team constitute the group with the highest risk of contracting the virus, the medical and military personnel who have tested positive to date are NOT part of the frontline public health response team doing surveillance and containment effort in our communities.  We rigorously screen and test our frontline personnel for their safety and the public’s safety precisely because they come into contact with persons who have been exposed to the virus. This ensures that the risk to the public from contact with our contract-tracing and containment teams is eliminated.

We expect that all frontline teams will carefully observe established Covid-safe protocol and we appreciate the feedback we get from the public in this regard. Covid-safe behavior needs to be maintained by all sections of the community, but especially those in the frontline of the public health response and clinical response.

At this time, when we have seen an escalation of cases, we wish to remind all frontline workers of the higher level of Covid-safe behavior expected by the community and our profession. The same is true for all community leaders and persons in leadership positions in our community in setting an example of a high standard for Covid-safe behavior at all times.