Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong

The Ministry of Health is ready to review some public health border measures.

Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong highlighted this, as China is now open for inward and outward travel.

According to Dr. Fong, given the high level of the COVID-19 outbreak in mainland China, Fiji is preparing to review certain border protection measures.

Dr. Fong says that at present, the USA, Japan, India, South Korea, and Taiwan have announced that all passengers arriving from China must have a COVID test before departure.

Dr. Fong says Fiji does not have direct travel from China.

He adds that the data indicates that Fiji has a high level of immune protection given the low impact the current wave is having on admission capacity.

The Permanent Secretary says China and the countries that receive passengers directly from China have the ability to surveil for variants, and Fiji also has in-country capacity to do this.

He adds that no new travel restrictions have been put in place; however, they also do not rule out the possibility of new restrictions in the future.