COVID-19 Testing Only For Those Who Meet Criteria

COVID-19 testing will only be carried out on those who meet the criteria set out by the Ministry of Health and Medical Services.

This was the affirmation made by the Head of Health Protection at the Ministry of Health and Medical Services, Dr Aalisha Sahukhan.

Dr Sahukhan said: “We have a criterion for people to be tested, it includes anybody who has respiratory infection symptoms like a cough and fever and shortness of breath and also a history of travel specifically to countries that are reporting local transmission of COVID-19.”

She said over 100 countries had reported cases of local transmission.

“However, we have also expanded that criteria to give Doctors more lee-way to test more because as World Health Organisation has recently said the more you test the more you are able to detect cases and the more chances of containing the virus,” Dr Sahukhan said.

“Recently we have tested locally every day,” she said.

“We have people who are coming into the country and are having symptoms of fever and cold and we are testing them every day.

“We have also expanded testing to patients admitted at the ICU with respiratory symptoms.

“They are not suspected cases but the more people we test, the more people we could identify and more chances of containing the virus as quickly as possible.”

She added that people who just show up to be tested will first be assessed by the Medical professions.

“You will have to be first assessed by a Doctor and if you meet the criteria, we will discuss the likelihood of the virus at Fiji Centre of Disease Control then we will test them.

“This is also done in a bid to conserve resources in Fiji and also practiced world-wide.”

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Fijians should rely exclusively on the Ministry of Health and Medical Services, along with the World Health Organisation, as trusted sources of information.