Fiji now has 12 confirmed cases of COVID-19 but the Health Ministry is awaiting further test results of the daughter-in-law of the Soasoa man in Labasa who has tested positive.
She is the 12th case and is the only patient who is yet to be tested twice for COVID-19.
The test results for her second test is expected later today.
Key Points from the announcement :
๐๐๐ฐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐๐ข๐ซ๐ฆ๐๐ ๐๐๐ฌ๐๐ฌ
Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama confirms the father of the barber who tested positive on Thursday has been confirmed to have COVID-19.
He says they had a strong suspicion of how the sixth and seventh cases of COVID-19 in Fiji contracted the virus.
Bainimarama says the father stayed with the couple for several days after returning from India on the 22nd of March.
He says the father likely became infected at a large religious gathering he attended while in India.
The Prime Minister says upon returning to Fiji, he spent five days in the Nabua Settlement, and he then made his way by boat to Vanua Levu.
He then travelled to his home in Soasoa and is currently in stable condition in the isolation ward at Labasa Hospital.
Bainimarama says this patient did not declare any symptoms when returning from travel and did not follow the directive of entering into government-mandated home quarantine, a compulsory requirement for all those returning to the country from abroad that came into effect on the 19th of March.
The Prime Minister says three days after the directive came into effect, this individual proceeded to ignore it by hopping from Nadi to Suva to Labasa in the span of a week, potentially spreading COVID-19 via land, air, and sea over just a few days.
He says contact tracing teams are in the process of identifying all other individuals who came into contact with this man including a few in Suva who he spoke with at car garages and fellow passengers on the ferry from Nabouwalu Jetty to Vanua Levu on the 27th of March.
๐๐ฐ๐จ ๐๐๐ฌ๐๐ฌ ๐จ๐ ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ญ
Bainimarama says following his arrival in Soasoa, the 54 year old man, his daughter-in-law, and his grandson were all taken into isolation and tested.
He says they tested all three, and two of them, including the father tested positive.
Bainimarama says they are currently doing a second-round test on the daughter-in-law and grandson to confirm their results.
He says in the meantime, all three family members remain in isolation at Labasa Hospital where they are in stable condition.
๐๐-๐ฒ๐๐๐ซ-๐จ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐๐ฎ๐ ๐ก๐ญ๐๐ซ
Bainimarama says after identifying the couple who tested positive for the virus in the Nabua Settlement, they had also entered their 11-year-old daughter into isolation before she had developed symptoms.
The Prime Minister says yesterday, she came down with a fever.
She was tested and confirmed as positive for the virus this morning.
๐๐๐ฎ๐ญ๐จ๐ค๐ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ง
Bainimarama says in the Lautoka confined area, the 39 year old sister of case number five, the woman from the first patientโs Zumba class, developed symptoms after she was already placed in quarantine within Natabua High School.
The Prime Minister says the woman alerted the Ministry of Health and was tested.
She was confirmed as positive for the virus this morning, and she has since been isolated at Lautoka Hospital where she remains in stable condition.
๐๐๐๐ข ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ง
Bainimarama says there is a new case in Nadi which is unrelated to any of the other patients.
He says this has many similarities to the first case in Nadera, Suva, the man who immediately entered self-quarantine upon arriving back from abroad, a responsible move that has, so far, resulted in no additional cases.
Bainimarama says this new case in Nadi is a 20 year old woman who also entered self-quarantine immediately after returning to Fiji from Auckland.
He says they are grateful this young woman displayed the same diligence and compassion as that young man from Nadera as she placed herself into quarantine, and stayed there.
She was brought food that was dropped off at her door, and she refrained from coming into contact with others.
Bainimarama says her good habits have spared Nadi from a total lockdown.
All Fijians living with COVID-19 are in stable condition. Bainimarama says this is our single largest jump in cases in a day.
He says week over week, our new case numbers have doubled.
๐๐จ๐๐ค๐๐จ๐ฐ๐ง ๐จ๐ ๐๐จ๐๐ฌ๐จ๐ ๐๐ซ๐๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐๐๐ง๐ฎ๐ ๐๐๐ฏ๐ฎ
Bainimarama says they are going to lock down a 240-square-metre portion of Soasoa area on Vanua Levu โ where the contact tracing for the first case in the North is underway.
He says the surrounding homes, and neighbours he came into contact with, will be under this contained area.
Bainimarama says if itโs determined that the spread has risked going beyond these boundaries, they will expand them accordingly.
๐๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ฒ ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐๐ฒ๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ค๐ ๐ช๐ฎ๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐
The Prime Minister says two rugby players returning from overseas broke compulsory quarantine after coming back to Fiji.
He says like every other person disembarking from international flights, they were required to self-quarantine for 14 days.
Bainimarama adds the two rugby players violated the directives, and put their loved ones and all of Fiji at risk.
He says one of them was coming in from Singapore and had a high-risk of exposure to the virus while overseas.
The Prime Minister says after reports he was breaking quarantine, he was actually brought into the hospital in Sigatoka and then he bolted and disappeared, forcing police officers to track him down.
Bainimarama says unlucky for him, he couldnโt step his way past our Fiji Police Force.
The Prime Minister says the player has been arrested, and he is now securely in isolation at Nadi Hospital.
He says last night, they also received another report of a mother who took her family on a fibreglass boat and shipped herself to Wakaya Island.
Police are investigating this alleged breach as well.ย
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