Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) related comorbidities is a predominant contributor to severe outcomes of COVID 19 in Fiji, says Ministry of Health and Medical Services permanent secretary Dr James Fong.

Dr Fong said these NCD-related comorbidities included heart disease, kidney disease, diabetes, obesity, and hypertension. The Ministry of Health and Medical Services attributed 5700 deaths in 2020 to complications related to NCDs. Dr Fong said NCDs placed an additional heavy burden on the Fijian society.

In his COVID-19 update on Monday night, Dr Fong urged Fijians that with the current wave of COVID-19, Fijians needed to adopt practises that built resilience.

“We know that there remains a high risk of resurgence of endemic variants and the arrival of new variants. Our socioeconomic survival depends on our ability to build and sustain individual and community-wide resilience,” he said.

“We should expect that COVID-19 will be endemic, however, we need to appreciate that “endemic” doesn’t mean harmless. Endemic means that we expect continued circulation of the disease in the community, the baseline levels of which are yet to be determined. Leptospirosis, typhoid and dengue are endemic in Fiji and they are associated with serious outcomes, especially when the number of cases increases to outbreak levels.”

He added that the objective of the ministry was to live with the virus and at the same time ensure a high level of transmission suppression and prevention of severe outcomes.