COVID-19: Children Of 40-Year-Old Wainitarawau Resident Test Positive

Two children living in Wainitarawau Settlement have tested positive for COVID-19.

A seven-month-old son and a 14-year-old daughter of the 40-year-old case announced yesterday.

This was confirmed by the Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Health and Medical Services, Dr James Fong this afternoon at a press conference in Suva.

"We have confirmed that two of the children living in Wainitarawau Settlement are positive for COVID-19, a seven-month-old son and a 14-year-old daughter of the 40-year-old case announced yesterday," Dr James Fong said.

"These two, along with the mother, father, and three other children are all in otherwise fine health in the Navua Hospital isolation ward.

"Both children initially tested negative for the virus, on Tuesday April 20th, the day they entered isolation.

"That gives us a high degree of confidence that they are latent cases, which means they were entered into isolation before they became infectious. So, while the 14-year-old did attend school on Monday April 19th, we believe there is little chance that she passed the virus to others. However, out of an abundance of caution, we will be running a screening exercise based on the daughter’s movements," he said.

There are now 19 active cases of COVID-19 in Fiji, the highest number of active cases that Fiji has ever registered: 14 of these cases are at the border, and five are locally-transmitted cases.

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