Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary Dr James Fong

The COVID-19 border quarantine that was announced this morning was detected yesterday.

The soldier in question tested negative during the first round of routine testing on the 10th of April.

He was then tested seven days later according to the Ministry’s protocol for which the result returned positive.

Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary, Dr James Fong, says he contracted the virus from a couple who returned from India earlier this month.

Dr Fong says there is a chance that the virus may have entered our community and as the soldier is believed to have had contact with some workers.

He adds that the soldier did not violate any protocols in place.

First-generation testing has been conducted where 69 people were identified and taken into quarantine.

Dr Fong says of the 69 taken into quarantine facility, 56 have returned negative test results.

He says that over 267 Fijians were contacted overnight starting from 10pm yesterday.

More tests are being conducted and they are expecting more results tomorrow.

The Ministry will be updating the public on any health restrictions tomorrow depending on the test results coming in.

Stay with us for more updates.