Thank You!
■ Big thumbs up for our COVID-19 frontline workers and members of the disciplined forces from Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama
■ PM, accompanied by the Minister for Health and Medical Services, Dr Ifereimi Waqainabete, makes second visit to quarantine facility workers
Our COVID-19 frontline workers and members of the disciplined forces were described as more than “healthcare heroes”, by Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama. Commending and personally thanking them for their tireless work to contain COVID-19 in the country, the PM assured them yesterday that the entire nation was behind them all the way.
“Even as you work – quite literally – in isolation, know that none of you are in this effort alone. Your nation is with you, we are invested in your success, and we deeply appreciate the great sacrifices you are making,” Mr Bainimarama said during his visit to a quarantine centre in Nadi.
This is the PM’s second visit to COVID-19 quarantine facility workers.
An area of the Tanoa International Hotel at Nadi is set apart and used to quarantine people arriving in the country. Mr Bainimarama was accompanied by the Minister for Health and Medical Services, Dr Ifereimi Waqainabete.
“We understand you are more than our healthcare heroes. That you are mothers and fathers,
sisters and brothers, friends and neighbours – and that you have given up your time with those you love for the sake of our safety. And we are grateful.”
On behalf of all Fijian citizens, the PM also conveyed gratitude to the workers who enabled businesses to open and sustain employment for Fijians.
“We are grateful every day that our children board the bus to school. You are the guardians of all those privileges we enjoy and your vigilance matters today as much as it did this past March when Fiji confirmed its first case,” Mr Bainimarama said.
“For the foreseeable future, the secure management of border quarantine facilities is our new normal. We will continue to repatriate our people. We have re-opened our borders to those with work permits. And we are involved in exploratory discussions to re-open higher volumes of travel with our regional development partners.”
The PM also pointed out that the Government had refurbished the George Mate Military Hospital at the Queen Elizabeth Barracks (QEB) in Nabua recently.
The hospital will be used as an isolation facility for any frontline healthcare worker or member of the disciplined forces who contracts the killer virus.