COVID-19

Nine new cases, six with no links

May 13, 2021 5:30 am

Permanent Secretary for Health Dr James Fong.

The Ministry of Health has recorded nine new cases of COVID-19  yesterday.

Permanent Secretary for Health, Dr James Fong says three of the cases are co-workers of a case from Extra Supermarket which was announced on Tuesday.

Dr Fong says two other individuals presented themselves to the Nausori Health Centre with COVID-19 symptoms.

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They are from the same family and two of their household contacts have also tested positive.

These cases are not linked to any cluster.

“One of these individuals worked at Nausori market as a vendor, that space is being decontaminated as I speak. As I have said before, we activate our contact tracing teams the moment a positive case becomes known. You may see our response teams on the ground conducting their investigations. This is something we must all accept as a usual course of business in these unusual times.”

Dr Fong says the 8th case is an individual from Vunimono, Nausori who tested positive after visiting the health centre.

This case is also not linked to others.

“So far, none of these six cases in Nausori are currently linked to existing cases. While we are still early into our investigation, we will be treating these cases as instances of community transmission until they are proven to be otherwise.”

The 9th confirmed case is a border quarantine staff who tested positive during routine testing, however health officials have not pinpointed a source of transmission.
Until more is known no discharges will be allowed from the quarantine facility in question.

The Permanent Secretary says the series of new clusters requires large-scale contact tracing.