We will transition to community surveillance testing as severe COVID-19 disease numbers and positivity rates approach the containment phase levels – Dr Fong

The Health Ministry will be transitioning to community surveillance testing as severe COVID-19 disease numbers and positivity rates approach the containment phase levels.

The Permanent Secretary for Health Dr James Fong has confirmed to Legend FM News that this would include doing contact tracing and testing all possible cases of COVID-19 again.

The 7-day average of new cases per day is 172 cases per day or 195 cases per million population per day.

Dr Fong says as previously announced, daily case numbers in Suva-Nausori are currently not being used as the sole indicator to monitor the progress of the outbreak.

The Ministry is closely monitoring other indicators such as test positivity, hospitalisations and deaths to track the progress of the outbreak.

Dr Fong adds with the decrease in testing numbers, testing remains above the World Health Organization recommended rate of 4 per 1000 population per week.