NZ announces further support towards Fiji’s COVID response

New Zealand has announced a further NZ$12 million of support towards Fiji’s COVID-19 response.

The package builds on previous tranches of assistance New Zealand has provided to Fiji, totalling over NZ$50 million.

The new package will support ongoing equipment and supply needs, including testing capacity, oxygen supply and Personal Protective Equipment stocks.

It will also be directed towards urgent and essential operations costs, including funding for technical assistance, surge support for Government operations and support for monitoring of community isolation cases.

New Zealand will also contribute NZ$1 million to the International Red Cross Global Appeal for COVID-19 tagged to support the Fiji Red Cross Society’s National Response Plan focused on vaccine roll-out, blood donations and training of volunteers for home-based care.

NZ’s Foreign Minister, Nanaia Mahuta says this latest package of support will continue their efforts to assist Fiji and civil society partners to help the most vulnerable communities impacted by COVID-19 over the next 12 months.

She adds they continue to stay in contact with the Fijian government and civil society partners to respond to further requests of assistance.

This latest announcement is in addition to the package of assistance announced for Fiji last month, including delivery of 100,000 doses of vaccines and funding the recruitment of 190 Fiji graduate nurses to provide surge capacity across the health system.