PM: BIG CHANGES
HERE ARE SOME HIGHLIGHTS FROM PM VOREQE BAINIMARAMA’S NATION-WIDE ADDRESS ON FIJI DAY YESTERDAY:
Schools for Year 12 and Year 13 reopens on November 1
Fiji will reopen borders to select list of countries from November 11 (Full details inside).
New curfew time: 11pm to 4am
Once 90 per cent of adults are fully vaccinated, the curfew hours will be from midnight to 4am. Nearly all businesses, workplaces including public transportation can operate at 80 per cent capacity to children and to fully vaccinated adults.
The only exceptions to this relaxation are taverns, bars, and gaming venues. These are especially high-risk businesses due to the way they require people to crowd together. Government will be announcing a set of protocols that take effect from November 11 that will allow these venues to safely re-open to fully vaccinated members of the public.
All venues must use Government’s new VAX-Check tool to verify the vaccine status of their patrons –– it’s easy and free.
Anyone who is fully vaccinated can now travel to Vanua Levu and our outer islands by boat or by air with transport companies that are COVID-safe compliant –– such as Fiji Link.
Travellers must register a negative COVID-19 test result on Rapid COVID-19 Test before travel. Upon arrival, they must immediately enter home quarantine for a period of seven days, but they will be home with family at last. Quarantine requirement for inter-island travel will be dropped once more Fijians in the Northern and Eastern divisions become fully
vaccinated. From November 11, Government will open regular inter-island travel if –– and only if –– vaccination rates continue to steadily rise in the Northern Division and the maritime islands.
Businesses that poorly enforce mask-wearing will be fined or shut down. In all other settings outside your
home, mask-wearing is still strongly encouraged. But it won’t be required to wear a mask if you’re walking the seawall, going for a jog or walk to exercise, or having a picnic on the beach—and obviously, it’s not required for a gathering in your home. Fijians can start playing contact sports again,
including rugby, netball, football, basketball, and cricket.
And there will be no restrictions on the size of outdoor gatherings. Funerals, weddings, birthdays and other events can be held outdoors without restrictions on the number in attendance. Indoor venues can operate at 80 per cent capacity, and everyone at the event must be fullyvaccinated.
Stadiums can also open. But spectators must be vaccinated and if sitting in close proximity at organised sporting events must wear masks.
JYOTI PRATIBHA
Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama yesterday reminded Fijians the new relaxed measures announced were a result of sacrifices made but none of these measures were irreversible.
While delivering his Fiji Day remarks, Mr Bainimarama said he was grateful to every Fijian who helped us reach here.
“I spent this morning at our first Fiji Navy Church Service after five long months of worshipping from home,” he said.
“Sitting among my fellow servicemen and women, along with my loved ones and friends, new and old, I was grateful.
“Grateful to every Fijian who helped get us here; our doctors, nurses, and members of our disciplined forces, the lorry drivers, and our teams deploying food rations and disbursing unemployment assistance, and grateful to each of you, the Fijians who have chosen the protection that vaccines offer.”
“We did not regain the privilege of returning to our churches, temples and mosques simply because we wanted it or even demanded it. We earned it through sacrifice. Fiji’s streets were never filled with mask-less protestors calling for the premature rollback of health restrictions.
“We returned to our houses of worship, to our places of work, to our businesses and into the arms of our friends and family the right way: By becoming one of the fastest-vaccinated countries in the world. And we should be proud to have made that journey together with compassion, patience, and vigilance.”
He said some Fijians are only partially-vaccinated, and a tiny minority are not vaccinated at all.
“What is more, we are still in the process of vaccinating our children, and we need to protect them. So we cannot afford a mad rush back to the carefree ways of living and doing business we once knew—at least not yet. We should be focussed on our adherence to rules that remain in place, not exploiting those that are being relaxed.
Decision can be reversed
“Let me now issue a brief disclaimer. Nothing I am announcing is an irreversible decision.
“As you know, one of the constants during this pandemic has been change –change in what we know about the virus and how it spreads, change in the way we respond to new information, and changes in the restrictions we have had to endure based on the ebbs and flows of the pandemic.”
“We expect that widespread vaccination will protect us against the worst of the virus, but if we see serious outbreaks due to such things as new global variants that lead to concerning rates of hospitalisations, we will have no choice but to re-introduce restrictions.”
He said unsafe habits like sharing the same bowl of grog or passing around the same cigarette butt should not happen.
“And not just when the cameras are rolling or when the police are watching,” he said.
“We have to actually change the way we think, we have to change our attitude and we have to change the way we do things, and the most important moments in that change are when no one is watching.”
Let me now issue a brief disclaimer. Nothing I am announcing is an irreversible decision. As you know, one of the constants during this pandemic has been change – change in what we know about the virus and how it spreads, change in the way we respond to new information, and changes in the restrictions we have had to endure based on the ebbs and flows of the pandemic. Voreqe Bainimarama Prime Minister