Medical clinic teams reached more than 800,000 Fijians

Minister Dr Ifereimi Waqainabete says national co-ordination surveillance testament to Govt’s response to pandemic.

Approximately 92 per cent of the country’s population have been reached by the COVID-19 mobile fever clinic teams who conducted house to house screenings nationwide.

This was revealed yesterday in Parliament by the Minister for Health and Medical Services, Dr Ifereimi Waqainabete, while delivering his ministerial statement.

Dr Waqainabete said 92 per cent accounted for 809, 704 Fijians. Fiji’s recovery rate now stands at 83 per cent while three active cases remain in isolation at the Navua Hospital.

“I am pleased to report that it is now 36 days since our last case of COVID-19 was reported, more than two incubation periods for the disease, and 15 of the 18 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have fully recovered and have returned to their homes,” Dr Waqainabete said.

“This massive undertaking has become a feature of the whole of Government’s COVID-19 surveillance response and it is a testament to the truly nationally coordinated response to the pandemic.

He said none of Fiji’s cases have had severe illness and none had required intensive care unit-level care.

COVID-19 testing

He said the ministry also identified 10 health facilities in the public and private sector in all health divisions to be sentinel testing sites. “As of yesterday, we had conducted a total of 2431 tests, which averages 33 tests per day. This equates to 2.47 tests per 1000 population,” the minister said.

“We are doing 121.5 tests per confirmed case and by this measure we compare favourably with the rest of the world in that Australia does 153 tests per confirmed case and South Korea does 69.1 tests per confirmed case.

“To date, fever clinics remain functional and have seen 16,757 people in total, with 142 people requiring testing for COVID-19.” He said the ministry had monitored more than 5840 individuals in various forms of quarantine and isolation. “We have achieved 92 per cent surveillance compliance from all quarantined individuals as reported by our health teams,” he said.

Intensive Care Unit investment

Dr Waqainabete said: “Government also has invested in Intensive Care Unit (ICU), consumables and medical supplies, which have been ordered to boost the inpatient care capacity in all major hospitals and isolation facilities in Fiji.”

The ministry has also doubled its ICU capacity and continues to look at avenues to ensure patients are treated early and adequately to limit ICU needs.

Toll free line

The minister added: “Through the Ministry of Communications, we also put in place a toll-free number ¬–158, which has received more than 9300 calls; averaging 150 to 200 calls per day.