Four new Covid-19 border cases in Fiji

The Fijian Ministry of Health and Medical Services has announced that there are four new border cases of Covid-19.

The first case is a 35-year-old man who travelled from the United Kingdom and arrived in Fiji on flight NZ 952 from Auckland on 24 December.

The other two cases are a 25-year-old man and a 27-year-old woman who arrived in Nadi on flight GA 8250 from New Delhi on 21 December.

The fourth case is a 55-year-old man who travelled from Mali and arrived on 31 December on flight NZ952 from Auckland.

All four individuals tested positive during routine testing while undergoing mandatory quarantine in the government designated (and Republic of Fiji Military Forces supervised) border quarantine facilities in Nadi.

According to the Ministry, the individuals have been safely and hygienically transferred to the isolation ward at the Lautoka hospital in accordance with the standard protocol for confirmed cases.

They have been asymptomatic and well since arrival in Fiji. The frontline border and quarantine staff who were directly involved with the cases have followed our standard infection prevention and control protocols, and will be monitored and tested as necessary.

The Ministry of Health also have another positive case that is considered a historical case.

A 39-year-old man arrived on flight NZ952 from Hong Kong on 21 December.

He tested positive during routine border quarantine testing, however, this person had already tested positive between October-December while travelling in France and the United Kingdom and will not be counted as a new case for Fiji.

Like another historical case announced last week – this individual had subsequently tested negative in pre-departure testing in the United Kingdom.

He also tested negative during day 3 testing in border quarantine in Fiji.

It is known that non-infectious particles of the COVID-19 virus can remain detectable, and result in a positive test result, long after the infection has passed, even if the person has tested negative previously; therefore it is unlikely that this person is currently infectious. He is also symptom free.

However, as a precaution, he has been transferred to the isolation ward at Lautoka hospital according to our standard protocol.

Fiji has a total of 53 cases since our first case was detected on March 19th, with the last 35 cases detected in border quarantine.

Fiji now has five active cases and it has now been 263 days since the last case was detected outside border quarantine.