Fiji

These include two nurses - one at Lautoka Hospital where more than 400 staff have been in quarantine since Wednesday.

The hospital has been isolated after a male patient contracted Covid-19 and died last evening.

He has become Fiji's first community case to die of the virus and health authorities have concluded that he had caught Covid-19 in the community, and not in the hospital.

The 22-year-old travelled with his 23-year old colleague who was also registered positive for the virus on 29 April by health authorities in Fiji.

Both travelers were returning home from Guyana in South America.

They transited via Auckland, New Zealand and arrived in Nadi on the last inbound commercial passenger flight on 22 April as Fiji stopped international travel after COVID-19 cases were confirmed.

Head of Health Protection at Fiji’s Ministry of Health, Dr Alisha Sahu Khan confirmed the border quarantine case in a press conference this evening.

The Health Ministry said the 53-year-old man, who was confirmed as Case 125 on Wednesday night, died in Lautoka on Viti Levu.

Originally admitted to Lautoka Hospital for surgery, the man from Ra Province is also suspected of being the source of transmission for two earlier COVID-19 infections.

The Health Ministry says cases 120 and 121, both doctors from the hospital, had treated the man.

Lautoka Hospital, with over 400 staff and patients, has since been closed off by the military and police.

More than 20,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine arrived in the country last week and will be administered to high-risk groups.

The rollout, which got underway in Lautoka on Monday, is targeting people with disabilities and co-morbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, heart conditions, asthma, HIV, cancer, and those on dialysis.

Essential workers are also expected to get their first jab.

But the ministry said the programme's continuation would depend on the availability of the vaccine doses.

Permanent Secretary for Health, Dr James Fong said a 25-year-old female doctor, presented at a screening clinic today with COVID-like symptoms.

She was tested positive for the virus.

Dr Fong said, the second, a 30-year-old male doctor, was tested as part of contact tracing for the first doctor.

The two doctors have been entered into isolation and their close household contacts have been quarantined.

Fijians woke today to the lifting of a snap-lockdown imposed since Saturday in Suva and surrounding towns after dozens of community cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in the community.

While there were no new cases of the virus overnight, the Health Ministry is urging the public to not let their guard down.

Health Secretary Dr James Fong said since 4am local time, the Suva-Nausori lockdown zone will revert into two separate containment areas.

He said this meant that within these containment areas, only movement for essential purposes may resume.

Last night, the ministry announced five new cases of Covid-19 infections.

The new cases come amid 605 tests being carried out in 24 hours.

The first two cases were close household contacts of previously announced cases and that both persons had tested positive while in quarantine.

Health Secretary James Fong said one of the two new cases is the wife of an earlier positive case from Nausori on Viti Levu, while the other is the man's 52-year-old aunt, who worked at a garment factory.

The 23-year-old passenger travelled from Guyana in South America and was returning home to Tonga.

He was on the last flight into Fiji from Auckland on 22 April after authorities stopped all international flights.

The border quarantine case is one of five new COVID-19 cases announced by Fiji’s Permanent Secretary for Health, Dr James Fong this evening.

The traveler is in quarantine in Nadi.

Another man who travelled from Papua New Guinea has also tested positive for COVID-19.

The Health Ministry said a 53 year-old caretaker from the town of Rakiraki will require further investigation into his contacts to determine whether he is linked to other Covid-19 patients.

Health Secretary James Fong said the man showed symptoms of the virus when he visited the health centre on Saturday.

Dr Fong said the man is being isolated at Lautoka Hospital.

He said the other latest case is linked to a woman who contracted the virus from her husband, a worker at the MIQ facility in Nadi.

The virus is now believed to have spread to many places on the main island, after one of the latest cases was reported to be a 54-year-old man, who is a care taker of the Ra Provincial Office on north- western Viti Levu.

 There is no clear indication of how he may have gotten the virus.

Health officials are conducting contact tracing and tests to see if he is linked with any of the recent cases.

He had showed symptoms such a body aches when he visited the Nanukuloa Health Centre on 24 April and is now in the isolation ward at Lautoka Hospital.