Fiji extends pause in flights

Fiji’s government has extended cancellations of all repatriation flights for another week as the country prepares for a surge in Covid-19 cases following a second outbreak of the highly infectious Indian variant.

All repatriation flights to Fiji on Fiji Airways, including those from New Zealand, were cancelled on April 26.

They were set to resume on Sunday but that date has been pushed back to May 9.

As of Sunday, Fiji had 49 active cases, of which 16 were border cases, 31 locally transmitted and two cases still under investigation.

Fiji’s permanent secretary for health, Dr James Fong, announced there were no new confirmed cases on Sunday – the first time since the second outbreak began.

He said that was no reason to celebrate and said Fijians should prepare for a surge in cases.

‘‘We are certain that there will be more cases that will develop,’’ Fong said.

‘‘Our biggest fear right now is that someone with symptoms has not reported to the screening clinic or called 158. This virus arrives in waves, a lull can signal a surge so let’s not get one day of no cases to fool anyone to thinking that this storm is over.’’

Fijian authorities have identified the virus as the double mutant India variant, which the World Health Organisation has designated a ‘‘variant of interest’’ because it could be more transmissible and evade vaccine immunity.

Fiji’s second wave of Covid19 began on April 17 after two Fijian nationals returning from India came into contact with a soldier at a managed quarantine facility.