Ariel view of Suva City.

The Health Ministry has warned that while the Central Division is seeing the biggest spike in case numbers, we could see severe outbreaks in many other parts of Fiji if we are not careful.

Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong says they’ve previously employed mobile screening teams to great effect, but the scale of the outbreak now requires a different approach which is part of their mitigation phase.

“We are guided by two objectives: Keep already infectious and potentially infectious people safely away from the public, and provide life-saving care to those who do develop a severe case of COVID-19. We will now be maintaining our stationary screening clinics and saving our mobile teams to do contact tracing, screen areas of concern and deploy to homes that report individuals with COVID-like symptoms.”

If individuals test positive, they will be placed under home isolation with groceries and essential household items provided.

If they develop a severe illness, they will be transported to a hospital.

Dr Fong is urging anyone who feels symptoms to call 158 and get tested.

“It is important to understand that this move to a mitigation strategy is tailored to the scale of the epidemic. With our partners across all of government, we are ensuring that our response is contending with reality so that we can protect you –– the Fijian people –– from an evolving outbreak. The mitigation measures will mostly be in the Central Division where containment measures are focused on positive persons and contacts.”

Fijians in the West, the North, and other parts of Fiji must still continue with the COVID-safe measures.

Dr Fong adds it is extremely important that people understand the need to carefully manage movement from Contained Areas to Uncontained Areas.

The PS says they sympathise with peoples’ need to relocate and they are working hard to develop protocols that can allow movement without risking further transmission of the virus.