Permanent Secretary for Health, Dr James Fong.

The seven new COVID cases confirmed last night are all local transmissions.

Permanent Secretary for Health, Dr James Fong says these cases from Lautoka and Suva are troubling, as they point to wider transmission in these areas.

The first case is a 30-year-old woman from Field 40 Lautoka who presented to the Kamikamica Health Centre with severe COVID-19 symptoms.

She had been sick for three weeks.

She is now admitted to the Lautoka hospital isolation unit and the members of her household have been quarantined.

Permanent Secretary for Health Dr James Fong says this patient did have some contact with medical officers and nurses within the health centre, which requires them to temporarily close the centre to the public.

“However, the level of exposure among our clinical staff is not as extensive as was the case for Lautoka Hospital. We expect the centre to re-open to the public following a thorough decontamination exercise.”

The second case is a 20-year-old woman who presented to the Makoi Screening clinic with COVID symptoms.

Dr Fong says the investigation revealed she had contact with the household of the Makoi family cluster but was not identified as a contact at the time.

She has been entered into isolation along with her household members.

Three of her household members have since tested positive for the virus.

“This case again highlights how important it is for everyone to download the careFiji App. Some of our recent cases have shown us just how unreliable a person’s memory can be during a contact tracing investigation and those gaps have cost us dearly.

The sixth case is a 26-year-old male and is the husband of a previously announced local case (case 75) from Kerebula Nadi.

He has been in a border quarantine facility in Nadi since April 18th and does not pose any transmission risk to the public.

The seventh case is a 35-year-old male from Saru, Lautoka who presented with symptoms at Natabua health centre.

He and his household contacts are being taken into isolation.