Permanent Secretary for Health, Dr James Fong.

Permanent Secretary for Health has confirmed that people coming to the country will still need to be quarantined even if they have received the COVID-19 jab.

Dr James Fong says this is the process being followed by many countries around the world.

Dr Fong adds this process is mandatory as those who have been vaccinated might be protected from the severe impacts of COVID-19, but they can still transmit the disease.

“We do know that vaccination does protect or does reduce transmission but we are not hundred percent sure by how much, so because of that there will still be quarantine conditions applied to those who are vaccinated.”

Dr Fong says until the rest of the population is protected, quarantine will still be in place for Fiji.

The PS has also highlighted that there will be no exemptions from quarantine for any person, however, there is a possibility of readjusting the quarantine regime according to the nature of the transmission.

He says this will be done once there is a clear indication of the nature of the reduced transmission risk.