The Police checkpoint in Cunningham.

Two new COVID-19 cases have been confirmed by the Ministry of Health.

They are the five-year-old and the 15-year-old daughters of the mother from Cunningham.

Permanent Secretary for Health Dr James Fong says both cases were confirmed in isolation.

Dr Fong says their first tests were negative that means they do not pose a risk to the public and bear no implication on their existing plan of contact tracing.

“I have spoken before on the life-or-death importance of Fijians of all ages adhering to the protocols we’ve established, and I can now give you a concrete example of why that is so important and how serious the risk is. The entire family of the person in Cunningham who contracted COVID-19 has also contracted the virus– seven household members in total. Let that be a lesson in how transmissible this variant is and how vital it is that measures are followed by everyone.”

Today the Ministry screened an additional 25,064 Fijians through its mobile screening teams and at screening clinics since yesterday.

Dr Fong says after another 1026 tests, they confirmed the two new cases of COVID-19.