A COVID-19 case from Makoi in Nasinu is a cause for concern for the Health Ministry.

The woman is one of four new cases confirmed for Fiji but authorities are unsure of how she was infected.

Two other cases were recorded in Nadi, one in Lautoka.

Permanent Secretary for Health, Dr James Fong says the Ministry is conducting contact tracing to determine who the woman from Makoi may have been in contact with before she was infected.

“She has been placed in quarantine but prudence requires us to treat this case as a possible community transmission. And as our investigation goes forward. We may find the source point, and this may or may not represent a new cluster.”

Dr Fong adds that the remaining three cases were all at the funeral in Tavakubu which authorities say is a super-spreader.

He says the Ministry of Health is tracking the movements and contacts of the new cases five days before they went into quarantine.

“Three of the cases involved persons who attended the funeral that we have identified as a super-spreader event, including a husband and wife who circulated through the community.”

Head of Health Protection Dr Aalisha Sahukhan says the Ministry will now work within the containment areas to continue contact tracing to contain the spread of the virus.

“We want you to keep still so we can continue to do our contact tracing and the intervention within the community. The other reason is because if there are cases out there, that we don’t know about and we don’t find. We know that when people move the virus moves, so if everyone just keeps still for a period of time. We can actually stop the virus in its tracks.”

There are now 10 locally transmitted cases in Fiji.