Fiji's government has reassured the public that they have been put at minimal risk of infection from a repatriation flight that contained people who have now tested positive to Covid-19.
Permanent Secretary of Health, James Fong Photo: Fiji Govt
Yesterday New Zealand announced at least five of the people who tested positive for the coronavirus in managed isolation had tested negative before boarding their flight.
The five travelled from India via Fiji, landing in Christchurch last week.
Fiji's Permanent Secretary for Health, Dr James Fong, said there was no threat to the public as the Christchurch-bound passengers did not leave the terminal in Nadi.
"We noted that several recent cases confirmed at the New Zealand border in Christchurch to have transited through Fiji while travelling from India. We want to assure the public that these individuals did not contact nor did they transmit the virus while in Fiji. They landed in Fiji, they spent 30 minutes in the Nadi Airport transit area, interacted with no one and then they transited to New Zealand."
Fong said all passengers tested negative before boarding.
Nadi International Airport in Fiji Photo: RNZI/Sally Round
New Zealand's Health Ministry said the five people included a man in his 20s, a woman in her 30s, two women in their 20s and a man in his 40s.
A passenger on the same flight as five of the new "imported" cases detected in Christchurch, told RNZ's First Up on Wednesday, they were quarantined in a hotel in New Delhi designated by the Fiji High Commission before the flight.
Rohit Sharma and his wife had been in India for five months.
He said on day three of the quarantine, they all had to undergo a Covid-19 test and only passengers with negative results were allowed to board the aircraft.
Fiji's Foreign Affairs Ministry said several Fijians on that repatriation flight from India last week were taken off the passenger list after failing to meet the government's Covid-19 requirements.
The ministry said the government had imposed strict testing protocols for all returning passengers.
The Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Yogesh Karan, said the restrictions come after the last flight from India on 4 July brought a cluster of virus cases and this had resulted in Fiji's first Covid-related death on 1 August.
Karan said about 69 Fijians were allowed to board the flight in Delhi while another eight Fiji citizens were uplifted from Jakarta in Indonesia. He said all 77 Fijians arrived home last Thursday.
The Garuda Indonesia Airlines flight had 229 passengers, of which 151 were New Zealand citizens who caught a connecting flight out of Nadi on Thursday afternoon.
Karan said screening prior to boarding and undergoing quarantine measures after arriving in Fiji have been strengthened.
"I know several passengers were off-loaded in Delhi because they did not meet the protocols we had put in place," he said.
"I had instructed the high commission in Delhi to implement these protocols strictly given what happened the last time."
He said the majority of passengers were Fijians who had travelled to India for medical treatment.
Karan said the Fijian Government partially paid for the charter flight while the passengers purchased tickets.
"We still have Fiji nationals in India."
Meanwhile, Karan said that 17 Fijians, who had travelled to India to attend an Islamic religious gathering, were being held by police for violating the country's lockdown restrictions in March.
Yogesh Karan. Photo: Supplied
He said the Fiji mission was monitoring the situation.