Centre for Disease Control (CDC) in Suva.

While no medical and laboratory staff at Fiji CDC have registered positive COVID-19 results, there will still be no testing onsite for at least another 24 hours as of yesterday.

The Ministry of Health is in the process of deep cleaning and decontaminating the centre in line with advice received from the reference laboratory in Melbourne.

The technicians who work at the laboratory have turned themselves into cleaners and scrubbed the lab.

CDC’s operation was affected after three staff tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday.

Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong says they bought 50 bottles of Janola for the cleaners to scrub all the walls of the lab.

Doctor Fong says the CDC handles the bulk of their testing, and they’re focused on bringing it back online as soon and as safely as possible.

He adds the facility went temporarily offline yesterday, and the volume of their testing has decreased, and based on that testing, one new case of COVID-19 was reported yesterday.

“This new case is a household member of the Lakena cases reported earlier, and he was already in isolation at Navua Hospital when he registered a positive result. Given his first test upon entering quarantine was negative, we do not view him as a high-risk case for wider transmission.”

Doctor Fong highlighted that testing has continued at Tamavua Twomey Hospital, CWM, Labasa and Lautoka Hospitals.

He stresses that regardless of the temporary lull they expect in swab processing, it remains vital that they use the next four lockdown days to identify and swab the contacts of existing cases in Suva and Nausori.