100,000 calls received for food ration packs requests upto midday with several members of the same household calling – Dr Fong

Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong says they received 100,000 calls as of noon today on their COVID-19 Food Ration Hotline and he is disappointed to learn that they had several members of the same households inundating the number with calls.

He says they were clear yesterday that food is distributed on a household-by-household basis.

Doctor Fong says attempts to game the system only succeed at delaying the delivery of food to Fijians with a genuine need.

He says that selfishness has serious consequences for those who need this assistance.

The Permanent Secretary also highlights that to ease the economic hardship of the lockdown, trucks carrying 5,000 food ration packs were loaded and shipped throughout the Suva-Nausori Lockdown Zone before sunrise today.

They are currently making delivery runs to families with a genuine need for food supply.

Doctor Fong says they have an e-mail address available to help divert some of the call volume.

He says if you can use e-mail, please do as it is the fastest way the teams can get into contact with you.

You can send your name, address, the number of people in your household, and your mobile number to covid19rations@gmail.com