Permanent Secretary for Immigration Yogesh Karan

Permanent Secretary for Immigration Yogesh Karan says effective from today, nationals from Italy, Iran and two cities in South Korea have been added to the restricted travel list.

As part of on-going measures to prevent COVID-19 from reaching Fiji, the Immigration Department has also begun hand-held thermal screening at all ports of entry.

Karan says three thermal scanners are being purchased by the Ministry of Health that will be placed at the Nadi and Nausori airports in two to three weeks to further enhance border surveillance.

He says with immigration the first line of defense, the new measures have been implemented after concerns from the Ministry, as there are more than 80 thousand confirmed coronavirus cases in 40 countries.

“Countries that’s Iran and two cities in South Korea, Cheongdo and Daegu City, we’re putting the same restrictions as we’ve done for China including Italy so virtually anyone that has travelled in these cities or in these countries, the same restrictions are going to apply that we are not going to allow anyone that was there in the last 14 days.”

In addition, the PS says thermal scanners are also now being considered for Ports given the number of the cruise liners that continue to dock in Fiji.