FIVE FROM NZ DID NOT GET COVID-19 HERE: DR FONG
He announced this Fiji records its first frontline worker transmission
The Acting Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Health and Medical Services Dr James Fong has confirmed that the five people who had transited through Fiji to New Zealand did not contract the COVID-19 virus here.
Dr Fong was responding to fake news on social media saying that the five contracted it here.
They tested positive in Christchurch over the past few days. Dr Fong said the individuals arrived in Fiji from India on August 27, spent 30 minutes at the Nadi International Airport, interacted
with no one, and transited to New Zealand.
He made this statement yesterday while announcing the country’s latest border quarantine case, this time a frontline health worker.
The female nursing officer contracted the virus while treating a border quarantine case in an isolation unit.
He said the new case had been considered a border quarantine case as the nurse had never entered a public space after contracting the virus.
“As per protocol, she worked and lived in the isolation centre, with exactly zero contact with the public,” Dr Fong said.
“She then entered a Fijian Government quarantine facility, without ever interacting with anyone from the public,” he said.
“After she returned a positive result for COVID-19, she was admitted to the isolation ward at Nadi Hospital where she is recovering well. In fact, her symptoms have since dissipated.
“Despite more than 3,000 patients held within our quarantine facilities, this is the first positive case confirmed among our staff working in our isolation facilities.”