COVID-19: 46 New Cases Recorded, Funerals Remain The Superspreader

On the 40th day of the current COVID-19 wave, 46 new cases in the Central Division were recorded.  This is the highest number for a single day.

Permanent Secretary for Health and Medical Services Dr James Fong said he does not expect the days ahead to get any better.

43 of the cases are linked to existing clusters that were under investigation and detected through contact tracing and targeted screening.

- 28 from Nadali in Nausori

- 3 are from Navosai and are linked to the Narere funeral cluster

- 2 from Muanikoso

- 9 from the navy cluster (8 from Kinoya and 1 from Nadonumai in Lami)

- 1 from the Samabula funeral cluster

Three new cases are currently not linked to other cases and are under investigation.

The Nadali community is now in day 29 of lockdown while Muanikoso is on day 6.

Two patients have recovered, which means there are now 195 active cases.

All active cases are in the Suva-Nausori area containment zone. 2 of these active cases are in the Intensive Care Unit.

Fiji has had 360 cases in total since our first case was reported in March 2020, with 161 recoveries and 4 deaths.

Dr Fong said there  has been a very significant increase in daily cases reported from the Suva-Nausori area.

"It is important to note that the majority of these cases have been found as a result of our extensive contact tracing effort and are linked to known clusters. This increase was not unexpected, but it should serve to show how easily this virus is transmitted and why restrictions are in place.

"We expect the number of cases to rise because we are testing aggressively in areas where we know the virus is spreading. We have a number of prominent locations under investigation including Government buildings and Kadavu House."

He said with the virus spreading within containment zones, they will be exercising extra vigilance to ensure there is no spread outside  containment zones.

"We will strengthen enforcement of COVID-safe restrictions such as restrictions on movement and gatherings, mask-wearing, physical distancing and the other measures designed to prevent people from coming into contact with the virus.

"Activities surrounding funerals appear to be the most troublesome spreader events, and this is an alarming situation. Everyone should recall that this latest outbreak gained momentum when one person who contracted the virus in the border quarantine area attended a funeral, yet funeral gatherings continue to be sources of spread."

Dr Fong and his colleagues, Dr Jemesa Tudravu and Dr Alisha Sahu-Khan pleaded with Fijians to adjust to the current situation and avoid funeral gatherings.

"The deceased must be buried, and we must pay our respects and accompany them during their last hours on earth, but we must temporarily find new ways to do this.

"Families are urged to limit graveside services to 10 persons and to limit gatherings before or after the burial to 10 persons or less. Our investigations indicate that in some instances, funeral gatherings of 100 were split up into 5 so-called “bubbles” of 20 persons.

"Many of you will understand that this does not make sense. We need good sense in the common sense space. We need to stop twisting and turning our Covid safe directives to suit our purposes. We need to treasure the memory of those we have lost and when more normal times return we can plan memorial events in which our loved ones are commemorated in a suitable way," Dr Fong said.