Fiji intensifies lockdown measures

SUVA: Fiji’s government has decided to intensify lockdown measures, as health authorities recorded nine more community cases of Covid19 over the 24 hours to yesterday, and another three among staff from the country’s Fiji’s Centre for Disease Control last night.

A woman’s death from the virus was also reported last night, bringing Fiji’s Covid19 death toll to 4.

The total community cases now stands at 44, as an outbreak of the B.1.617 (Indian) variant of the virus prompted the government to announce the Suva and Nausori area will be locked down from 11pm today to 4am Tuesday.

The government said it expected ‘‘many’’ more cases in that area in the coming days.

As the government works to trace infections from an outbreak at a large supermarket in Flagstaff, near the capital Suva, health authorities have admitted they may not have used the best communications strategies in this second wave.

The government has been giving oncedaily updates, sometimes starting close to 10pm.

‘‘We do need to improve our communication strategy,’’ health secretary James Fong said. Longer lockdowns and more severe restrictions were possible, Fong said.

‘‘Based on that data that we work on over the next four days, we will be able to make a firm commitment as to what else we need to do.’’

Papua New Guinea has recorded 504 new Covid19 cases, increasing its total number of cases to 13,000.

It is understood many of the 504 cases relate to tests done weeks ago; delays are still being experienced in the reporting of Covid19 infections from various provinces in the country.

The controller said there had been 130 known deaths from the virus in Papua New Guinea, while 10,915 recoveries had been recorded.