PM leads way! Celebrating one year of no COVID-19 community transmission

Fiji today celebrates one year of no COVID-19 community transmitted cases. And the person who led from the front in our COVID-19 response, Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama, will make an address to mark the remarkable achievement.

We should all be proud of this milestone. Many countries in the developed world including the United States of America and the United Kingdom are still grappling with the killer virus, which so far has claimed more than three million lives worldwide – 970,324 in Europe and 844,971 in North America alone up till yesterday.

Many countries in the continents of America, Europe, Asia and Africa have had multiple waves of COVID-19 attacks.

Fiji had its first and only wave one year ago and managed to contain it up to today.

Fiji has had 72 cases in total, with 65 recoveries and two deaths, since our first case was reported on March 19, 2020. The last 54 cases have been international travel associated cases detected in border quarantine. We have done well because of the support of the majority of us in taking the necessary precautions and complying with restrictions like lockdowns and curfew. There is a minority that still break the curfew rules and are being dealt with by the Police and courts.

But the situation looks positive on the health front after the arrival of the AstraZeneca vaccine. After the initial poor public turnout for vaccination because of conspiracy theories demonising vaccines, the general attitude has changed and that’s a good sign.

People have turned out in their numbers and more than 50,000 people have been vaccinated before supplies ran out.

The second batch of vaccines through the COVAX facility is expected to arrive in the next few days. The Ministry of Health and Medical Services says the next phase of the vaccine rollout will start soon after these 24,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine are received.

The vaccines protect us and our families against the virus. Our celebrations are not complete if we fail to recognise the incredible work and sacrifice of all our border workers. They have maintained our border integrity and kept us safe from COVID-19.

3 million people around the world have died from COVID-19 970,324

people in Europe have died from COVID-19 844,971

people in the USA have died from COVID-19