With the increasing number of measles cases, the Ministry of Health is urging employers to help stop the spread of measles by not penalizing employees  under quarantine.

Quarantine is needed to protect others from the disease and employees must be allowed to comply with quarantine without fear of losing income or employment.

Those employees under quarantine will be provided with the appropriate medical certification for their quarantined period.

The Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation President Sandeep Chauhan is calling on employees to be responsible and get vaccinated once the health Ministry renews their public campaign.

“If we don’t have people turning up to work then obviously that’s the loss of productivity and people are being affected as well as the families. It’s a contagious disease so it passes on to your other family members so the responsibility is on everybody to make sure the right thing is done.”

Fijians are being urged to be pro-active and present themselves to the doctor if they feel any symptoms of measles.

Pediatrician Dr Laila Seduadua says everyone is at the risk of getting measles if the immunization coverage is low or if one is not immunized.

There are now 14 confirmed cases of measles and the latest confirmed case is a 36 year old from Makosoi, Deuba in Serua/Namosi.