Permanent Secretary for Health and Medical Services Dr James Fong is warning Fijians to guard against a third wave of COVID-19 over the Christmas and New Year break.

“Because of excessive gatherings that are going to happen over the Christmas and New Year,” he warned.

“We will have the wave of the unvaccinated in the hospital.”

“We can only keep promoting COVID-safe measures so that the third wave is a small wave and not a tidal wave; a wave we learn to live with and learn from.”

In March 2020, Fiji was hit with the first wave.

It was eventually contained and for months there were no reported community transmission cases until the second wave caused by the Delta variant struck in April this year.

Dr Fong clarified that transmission and serious illness data the ministry gathered, showed that COVID-19 would still be around and pose risks to the public.

“We have to rely on transmission data and serious illness data,” the Permanent Secretary said.

“The Spanish flu was a huge problem.”

“Then over many years we had sufficient immunity to reduce caseload and severe disease admission to the point we call it mere flu and the vaccine is reserved for the vulnerable only.”

He said they expect the same for COVID-19 and until then, the best way to deal with the virus is to keep on practising COVID-safe measures.

European nations are experiencing a resurgence in COVID-19 cases once again.

The World Health Organisation has linked this on not enough people in the world being vaccinated.

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