Looking at the number of COVID-19 cases in the country, agile decision-making is vital for the Ministry of Health.

Health Minister, Dr Ifereimi Waqainabete, says although the cases may be high in terms of numbers – the positive sign is that all are within specific clusters.

Dr Waqainabete adds based on the patterns associated with the cases, there are more locally transmitted cases rather than community transmissions.

“That is more important to us than having more cases being picked up from the community. So as you can see there are some families for example a primary contact becomes positive, he has a family of seven members and ultimately all seven become positive.”

He adds cases from within clusters and no new community cases demonstrate that their containment programs are working.

Responding to a question from Opposition MP, Niko Nawaikula, the Health Minister says eliminating the transmission of the virus needs a whole of nation approach.