An even higher number of positive COVID-19 cases – a total of 166, and a death have been recorded by Fiji’s Ministry of Health Sunday.
Ministry permanent secretary Dr James Fong said the 77-year-old man had been bedridden for several months, and had been diagnosed positive by the CWM screening team.
Dr Fong said while the man had pre-existing medical conditions, available clinical data, there was consensus that this case represented a COVID death.
He said the family had been counselled and further containment measures had been activated.
This brings Fiji’s total COVID-19 deaths to date to 7.
Meanwhile, the Health PS says that while a majority of the new cases are linked to existing clusters, going forward, they will now report on areas of interest since the number of positive cases have grown.
“Community transmission is broad throughout the Central Division,” Dr Fong said.
“In this respect, we will post on various Government social media platforms, heat maps to delineate case distribution within the Central and Western divisions.”
He said everyone should practice COVID-safe measures whenever they left their homes, “irrespective of where you live and where you are going”.
“As expected, we are seeing a few more cases arising in the Lami area.
“The current priority is, therefore, to prevent the export of cases into the other non-containment zones.”
As such, Dr Fong said any request to move outside of the Central Division to other areas of Viti Levu and from Viti Levu to Vanua Levu and the Maritime zone needed to be strictly regulated.
He said pre-departure swab tests and quarantine capability were being expanded and strengthened to reduce the risk of spread within and beyond Viti Levu.
SOURCE: FIJI TIMES/PACNEWS
