COVID patients in Fiji isolate at home

More than 3000 COVID-19 patients in Fiji’s Western Division are isolating at home because there are not enough hospital beds.

The Ministry of Health announced the move in June amid a daily-record of cases, taking the total number of infections since April to over 19,000.

Health experts in and around Fiji have warned against the government's plan to isolate COVID patients at home amid the escalating cases in the country.

There are 19,151 active cases in isolation with 8352 of them in the Central Division, 10,562 in the West, five in the North (Nabouwalu and Macuata), and 232 cases are in the Eastern Division (Kadavu).

Chief medical advisor Dr Jemesa Tudravu said the Ministry is monitoring patients on attributes such as age and comorbidity.

He said the patients are placed into categories of high, moderate or low risk.

Dr Tudravu said more than half of those isolating at home are in the Western Division where the highest number of infections are being recorded.

There have been calls for the government to declare a state of emergency but Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama says there is no need.

 

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