Head of Health Protection at the Ministry of Health Dr Aalisha Sahu khan says border control is not something that works very well in terms of infectious diseases such as measles.

Dr Sahu khan says when someone has measles there is a period when they don’t show any symptoms, therefore, they can travel and effectively spread the infection.

She adds measles starts with very non-specific symptoms such as a cold and running nose and a lot of people who travel will have these symptoms and everybody with these symptoms cannot be stopped when they come to the border.

“Our main method of control is ensuring that we can detect the disease very quickly in-country as well as respond. This includes making sure that we have good herd immunity, good vaccination coverage for our children.”

The Ministry of Health as a precaution currently has health inspectors based at the ports of entry in light of the measles outbreak in the region.

She adds there is also an arrivals card available as well where people coming into Fiji have to fill if they have any symptoms of the disease.

Meanwhile, an outbreak of measles in Wainadoi was declared last week and to date has been confined with four confirmed cases.