Our borders

THAT so many people have recently become unemployed is of course a national tragedy.

People naturally are asking when our borders can be reopened. The burning question is who do you open them to? The only logical answer can be to those countries who exhibit the ability to firmly control COVID-19 at the same, or better level than Fiji thus minimising imported transmissions here.

It is so simple for a country such as Australia to have the disease well under control one day, then totally drop the bundle the next.

Cases of sexual relations between those in quarantine and “guards” in isolation, has been suggested, not confirmed, as the cause of the current outbreak in Melbourne. New Zealand has had at least four escapees from mandatory isolation recently, are they showing us the way?

Fiji recently permitted a repatriation flight from the third worst COVID-19 infected country, India, to land in Fiji after which nearly 10 per cent of the passengers developed COVID-19.

What checks and balances were done on these passengers before boarding the flight? We can all be grateful that Fiji’s quarantine procedures are standing firm, but of course we are putting medical staff at risk when it should not be necessary. Those who advocate reopening the borders have to ask themselves one thing, am I going to hold myself responsible if just one innocent Fijian dies as a result of the action? ALLAN LOOSLEY

Tavua