COVID-19 patient number four, a 28-year-old male from Nadera in Nasinu, has now spent 54 days in isolation as of yesterday, the longest time in isolation so far.

Yesterday marked 59 days since the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Fiji.

Patient four arrived from Australia and did everything the authorities had asked him to do to help stop the spread of the disease.

Patient six, the 22-year-old hairdresser from Nabua and patient 12, a 12-year-old child, also from Nabua, remain as the other two active cases. These two patients are part of the cluster that contracted COVID-19 from patient nine, who had returned from India.

Sixty-three passengers who arrived from Auckland on May 13, are quarantined in Nadi; 41 at Nasau and 22 at Novotel.

And 85 passengers who arrived from Melbourne on April 30 are also quarantined in Nadi; 40 are quarantined in Tanoa and 45 are quarantined in Novotel.

Incoming passengers require 28 days of quarantine before being cleared by the Ministry of Health.

Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama announced last Friday that 15 patients had now recovered. Patient 18, a 51-year-old woman, from Ba is the latest to recover.

Mr Bainimarama highlighted the need to ensure that there was absolute zero chances of transmission.

“As tight as our safety nets may be, there is always a chance that an asymptomatic case has slipped through undetected,” the PM said.

“We have no evidence to suggest this is the case, but it is still a risk we must consider because all it takes is one case, one super-spreader, to provoke a Fijian epidemic of COVID-19.”

Edited by Naisa Koroi

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