Cessation of flights announced

THE COVID-19 Risk Mitigation Taskforce (CRMT) yesterday announced the cessation of all inbound passenger flights to Fiji between Thursday, December 24 and Monday, December 28.

And while several repatriation flights had been approved to land up to December 24, any traveller onboard the flights coming from the UK, as well as passengers deemed as travelling contacts of UK-based travellers, “will be identified and quarantined separately”.

The Health Ministry stated it would use this period “to conduct an extensive review of its border quarantine processes in light of the discovery of a potentially more contagious strain of the novel coronavirus in the United Kingdom (UK)”.

“The situation will be reviewed during this period and may be extended,” the CMRT confirmed in a statement yesterday.

“While our current border quarantine protocols have been effective in maintaining Fiji’s COVID-Contained status for 246 days now, if this new strain of the virus is easier to transmit, it could potentially pose an increased risk of inflight transmission to other passengers.

“The review will assess what steps Fiji may need to take to proactively mitigate any increased risk from this newlydiscovered strain.”

The CRMT stated exemptions could be made by the Ministry of Health permanent secretary for inbound travellers from countries, other than those affected by the potentially contagious strain of the novel coronavirus.

For more information, contact the CRMT Secretariat on crmt@govnet.gov.fj