32 new COVID-19 cases, 13 cases from Nawaka

Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong confirms that 32 new COVID-19 cases have been recorded.

In addition to the 23 new cases reported yesterday morning, there are 9 new cases as of 6 o’clock last night.

The 9 new cases are all linked to existing clusters.

Another 4 cases are from Nawaka, Nadi while 5 are from Muanikoso, Nasinu.

There are now 267 active cases with 252 of these cases from the Lami-Suva-Nausori containment zone, and 15 cases from Nadi.

2 of the active cases in Suva are considered to be severe cases.

Fiji has had 438 cases in total since our first case was reported in March 2020, with 167 recoveries and 4 deaths.

There have been 368 cases since this outbreak started in April 2021.

65,877 COVID-19 laboratory tests have been conducted during this current outbreak, with 108,738 conducted in total since testing started in early 2020.

This does not yet include the 11,000 samples recently tested in Australia.

2 cases were recorded from the Narere cluster, 3 cases from the Waila cluster, 9 from the Nawaka, Nadi cluster and 15 cases from the Navy cluster yesterday afternoon.

Doctor Fong says all of these cases are stable and are either in isolation facilities or home isolation.

He also says they have received genomic sequencing results from the reference lab in Melbourne for positive samples during this outbreak.

The most recent case sample in this batch of results is case 158 (an Extra Supermarket worker).

The results show that, based on the samples that have been sequenced, B.1.617.2, the variant of concern that was first identified in India, is the only variant circulating in the community.

Subsequent positive case samples have been sent to Melbourne for genomic sequencing and they are awaiting results.

The Ministry is also further extending its community surveillance testing in the community.

This will be done with the security forces and in some instances will involve creating screening zones especially in densely populated communities that will involve restricting movement while the screening teams do their work.

Doctor Fong says please do not panic.

This does not mean there is a positive case in your neighbourhood.

It only means they are screening to facilitate the safety of your neighbourhood.