SUVA | NADI | LAUTOKA | LABASA | BA

CONTINUES TREE PLANTING PROJECT Quarantine setups are precautionary steps guided by World Health Organisation (WHO).

Quarantine and isolation unit setups similar to Navua Hospital will take place in other divisions too, says the Ministry of Health.

This is being done by the ministry to be prepared to counter the coronavirus or COVID-19 as it continues to spread around the world. Permanent Secretary for Health Bernadette Welch said the divisions were yet to be finalised.

In a statement, the ministry said the quarantine setups were precautionary steps guided by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and similar preventative measures are being undertaken around the world to prevent outbreaks of COVID-19.

“As part of this undertaking, preventative isolation units in the Western, Central and Northern divisions are being prepared. Nadi Hospital and the Navua Hospital have already had isolation wards established,” the statement said. Many residents in Navua have been put in a state of panic by SODELPA politicians with claims that foreign nationals infected with the coronavirus were inbound for Navua Hospital.

A petition to oppose the setting up of a quarantine facility was held on Saturday.

The SODELPA politicians also claimed that “trade winds would spread the virus if infected people were kept at the Navua Hospital.”

The statement has been dispelled by medical experts who have said viruses do not spread in that manner. According to WHO, the new coronavirus is a respiratory virus, which spreads primarily through contact with an infected person through respiratory droplets generated when a person, for example, coughs or sneezes, or through droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose.

The Ministry of Health was deeply concerned to see certain individuals abuse their position to exploit, rather than condemn, false information being spread about the Navua Hospital.

There are still no confirmed cases of coronavirus in the country.