New Daily Record 308 Cases

Another daily new record case of 308 cases were announced by the Health and Medical Services Permanent Secretary Dr James Fong.

297 cases are from the Lami-Nausori Containment Zone, and 11 are from Tramline Nadi.

218 of the cases in Lami-Suva-Nausori are from existing areas of interest.

• This includes 153 cases from Qauia in Lami.
• 12 cases are from new areas of interest that include: Goodman Fielder,
• Gounder Shipping,
• Nausori Police Barracks, and
• Giles Hospital.

The remaining cases are contacts of known cases, or cases that were seen in screening clinics and were swabbed.

“The Gounder Shipping crew have been isolated. In accordance with our shipping crew protocol, any unloading of freight will take place in areas that are clearly demarcated so there are no interactions between the crew and others, including people on the ground in Vanua Levu and the outer islands.

“The crew are not permitted to disembark in Vanua Levu nor in the islands and these protocols have been and will continue to be strictly enforced by the Police, my teams, and the Maritime Safety Authority of Fiji. Be assured that we have not yet facilitate movement of anyone from Viti Levu to the Vanua Levu or the outer islands. We’ll have specific details on these cases in tomorrow’s (today’s) daily update.”

Death

A patient who tested positive for COVID-19 has also died. This is a 63-year-old male who presented to the FEMAT hospital on 22 June, tested positive and was then referred to CWM Hospital. This death is being investigated by doctors at CWM Hospital to determine if it was caused by COVID-19.

There are currently seven severe cases of COVID-19 admitted at CWM Hospital. Two of the nine patients in severe condition reported earlier are doing better and are no longer classified as severe.

“The metrics that my teams assess on a regular basis all indicate that we will see higher increases in daily case numbers in the near-term. I want to make sure we understand how that impacts our response and recommendations to the government.”

Understand the situation

“First, I believe some of us –– including those in the media –– need a better grasp of what we mean when we say “lockdown” in Fiji. We are not in Australia and we are not in New Zealand.

“A lockdown –– in the Fijian context –– means a 24-hour curfew. It means no movement for any purposes except for medical emergencies. No shopping. No going out to get food. No going for a walk. No nothing –– it means total lockdown.”

Other countries have not done that. Australia and New Zealand have never done that.

“So to say that many other countries have done a strict lockdown is not correct. Few, if any countries, have locked down in the same manner that Fiji has locked down. Here we have a different system and the word “lockdown” signals a much stricter policy.

“ Instead of going for that strict lockdown option, movement in Fiji has been restricted for essential purposes and a curfew takes effect from 6pm until until 4am every day.

“Anywhere else in the world that alone would constitute lockdown. And in many other places in the world,  measures similar to those have worked well to reduce the spread of the virus. Why has it worked? Two words: Public compliance.”

Dr Fong clarified that they had not advised the government to enforce a 24-hour curfew for 28 days for Viti Levu.

“If I believed there was a medical case to be made for a 24-hour curfew for 28 days for all of Viti Levu, I’d advise the Prime Minister directly. I have his number. He sits across from me in our briefings.

“I have not done that because, medically, we do not believe a 24-hour curfew for 28 straight days would work. So I hope that puts a definitive end to the social media speculation. If you have time to tweet or post on Facebook, don’t dedicate your platform to disinformation. Please emphasise the importance of our health measures; the measures that are proven to stop the spread of the virus.”

Why no lockdown

“The reason we have not recommended four full weeks of a 24-hour curfew is that given the track record of poor public compliance, we cannot guarantee that we’d see compliance everywhere in the country and therefore we simply do not have the capacity to enforce such a strict lockdown everywhere on Viti Levu.

Severe case

There is a young woman in the ICU right now suffering from a severe case of COVID-19. She’s 30 years old.

“Don’t think being young makes you immune. The highly contagious Delta variant present in Fiji has been described as the “fittest and the fastest” variant in the world. Don’t trifle with it. Anyone can be seriously impacted by this virus –– and this variant.”

Telehealth

To make sure these Fijians continue to access life-sustaining medication, Government has established a telehealth for FIjians living with non-communicable diseases that will open for the Western and Central divisions from next Monday and be available Monday through Friday from 9am until 4pm. The number is 165.

Feedback: inoke.rabonu@fijisun.com.fj