151 COVID-19 Active Cases All In Suva-Nausori Area

Fiji now has 151 active cases of coronavirus, after 28 new cases were announced last night.

All 151 cases are from within the Suva-Nausori containment areas.

Of the 28 new COVID-19 cases

• One is a resident of Kinoya with no links to other cases at this early stage of investigation,
• Two were at the George Mate Medical Centre at Queen Elizabeth Barracks in Nabua and are connected to the QEB cluster,
• Seven RFMF Naval Division personnel and staff who are contacts of the first Naval personnel to test positive are part of the navy cluster,
• 14 are residents of Vunivivi in Nausori. They were found as part of screening of that area in connection with the navy cluster. Investigations have revealed that the Navy, Waila, and Vunivivi clusters are connected through a common exposure event - a funeral,
• Four cases are primary contacts within the Muanikoso cluster.

Recovery figures and facts

The Ministry of Health and Medical Services in its update said four patients had recovered from the virus.

There have been 244 cases during this current outbreak, and Fiji has had 314 cases in total, with 159 recoveries and 4 deaths, since our first case was reported on March 19, 2020.

More than 58,000 COVID-19 laboratory tests have been conducted during this current outbreak, with 98,915 tests conducted in total since testing started in early 2020. This does not yet include the 11,000 samples recently tested in Australia.

A total of 2804 samples were tested on Wednesday. The daily average of testing over the past seven days is 2567 tests per day.

The seven-day average daily test positivity is at 0.7 per cent, and one per cent in the last day.

An average of 2.9 tests per 1000 population were conducted daily over the past seven days, with 3.2 tests per 1000 population in the last day.

Dr Fong comments

Permanent Secretary for Health and Medical Services, Dr James Fong, said: “It is clear that the concentration of this outbreak is now in the Suva-Nausori area.

“Most of the new cases in recent days were discovered through contact tracing investigations for known cases, which is an indicator that our contact tracing efforts are effective.

“Significant escalations in daily case numbers have been largely driven by the fact that recent cases have been linked to large households or workplace groups, funeral gatherings and the associated grog sessions in big groups.

“We are getting test results quickly, so we can take proper action soon after identifying someone who may have been in close contact with an infected person.

“We urge people to keep that in mind and do what they can to help: Make sure the careFIJI app is active on your smartphone and that Bluetooth is turned on.

“Remember your movements and the people with whom you have come into contact.

“Maintain proper mask wearing when outside your home, limit social activities to within the household, and don’t share bilos (cups/bowls) and cigarettes. And report for screening immediately if you have any of the common COVID-19 symptoms--even very mild symptoms.”

Vaccination Campaign update

Since the restart of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign within the Suva and Nausori Containment Zones on Monday, 16,148 doses of the vaccine have been administered.

A total of 13,398 first doses were administered to the people living between Suva-Nausori, while 2750 second doses were given to frontliners across Fiji.

As of Wednesday, 111,801 people in Fiji have received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, this is 17 per cent of the ministry’s target population of 650,000 individuals.

A daily list of vaccination sites will be released each evening.

Edited by Naisa Koroi

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