Fiji Sun

Our border surveillan­ce an example to the rest of the world in war on COVID-19

- NEMANI DELAIBATIK­I Feedback: nemani.delaibatik­i@fijisun.com.fj

Fiji is keeping its COVID-19 contained record intact on no community transmissi­on while our regional partner, New Zealand, has reported two more positive cases in the community.

The two people were tested positive after leaving managed isolation, increasing to three the number of community infection.

The first person also tested positive after leaving the same hotel, Pullman, in Auckland.

All three tested negative twice, first when they arrived and second before they left the quarantine facility after 14 days in isolation.

Previously, New Zealand has had positive cases detected and contained at the border just like our frontline team has done at our border.

However, New Zealand authoritie­s are baffled by their latest cases because they have some of the stringent measures at the isolation facilities as Fijians quarantine­d at the five-star Grand Mercure Hotel in Wellington are finding out.

For the last five months this hotel has not had any incident similar to the Auckland cases. The systems used are similar and the Wellington facility is like a military fortress in a bid to eliminate any risk of an infection spreading to the community.

Those who had stayed at the hotel previously had been COVID-19 free after they tested negative and returned to their homes.

Since the Fijian Ministry of Health’s last update on January 25 Fiji has recorded no new cases of COVID-19 and there are currently no active cases.

Fiji has had a remarkable run compared to many countries including New Zealand and Australia due to our tough border restrictio­ns.

Last year there were 55 cases of COVID-19 in total, with 53 recoveries and two deaths, since our first case was reported on March 19 2020, a Ministry of Health statement said. The past 37 cases have been internatio­nal travel associated cases detected in border quarantine. It has been 284 days since the last case was detected outside border quarantine on April 18.

A total of 25,433 laboratory tests have been conducted, with a weekly average of 1120 tests over the past two weeks.

A 38-year-old crew member on board the internatio­nal cargo ship the MV Papuan Chief, which arrived in Fiji on January 24th, has returned a weak positive test result, indicating that a very small amount of viral material was present in the sample. A repeat test was negative, and he is well with no symptoms. Furthermor­e, this person reportedly tested positive and was confirmed as a COVID-19 case in the Ukraine in November 2020. He recovered in December and entered Seoul, South Korea, completing 14 days quarantine and returning negative tests, before joining the ship in Busan South Korea on January 2.

All precaution­s are being taken and he is in isolation on the ship. The extent to which authoritie­s took to ensure there is no risk of community infection underscore­s the integrity of our border surveillan­ce that keeps us safe. It is an example to the rest of the world.

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