Biggest area of interest in Tavakubu – Dr Fong

The Permanent Secretary for Health Dr James Fong says right now their biggest area of interest is Tavakubu, Lautoka where the 53-year-old woman who tested positive for COVID-19 attended a funeral on Friday and Saturday.

Dr Fong says the information they are getting from the woman indicates that apart from three individuals who had travelled to Moturiki, Lomaiviti all other people at the funeral were from a church circuit within Lautoka.

He further says they have traced the 3 people who went to Moturiki.

Dr Fong adds their team in the West has shown a boundary that they maintained and they will be going through that group as part of the screening process.

He says they will have to set up a number of mobile and fixed screening clinics throughout Nadi and Lautoka.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama says only 1 of the 69 first-generation contacts of the soldier that tested positive for COVID-19, has tested positive for the disease.

Bainimarama says 68 have tested negative.

He says the positive patient is the 53-year-old woman working as a maid in the quarantine facility.

Bainimarama says their investigation has revealed she had an interaction with the soldier when he showed up early to his room as it was being cleaned. He says protocol dictates that overlap should not have happened, that is why the woman was not tested before re-entering the public.

The Prime Minister says they will have to wait and see what further investigations reveal.

He says what is clear today is that this breach in protocol cannot be repeated.

In the meantime, they are confident that their system of border quarantine can function to the high degree it has over the past year.

The woman is a daytime worker and she resides in Nadi.

It has been revealed that she had symptoms on Thursday, and authorities were not notified.

The Prime Minister says that means she was contagious when she was at work on Thursday and later on Friday and Saturday when she travelled through the Lautoka and Nadi areas.

Bainimarama says perhaps most worryingly, she attended a funeral in Tavakubu Lautoka on Friday and Saturday, travelling alongside other passengers by minibus.

The Prime Minister says the woman’s movement using public transport, and her attendance in close proximity alongside many other Fijians at the two-day funeral makes further transmission in the community highly likely.

To limit the risk of mass community transmission, and to better screen the local population, Bainimarama said they had established a Nadi and Lautoka Containment Area and brought new stringent health protection measures into effect. The Nadi and Lautoka Containment Area has been established from Qeleloa bearing towards Sigatoka, to Nacilau, Vakabuli, and the Waiwai Crossing bearing towards Ba.

Ministry of Health and Medical Services personnel and disciplined forces have rapidly established screening points at these entry points.