Eight new cases of Covid-19 infections were detected in Fiji throughout Monday, taking the nation's total active cases to 99.
On Sunday, the country recorded its biggest number of cases with 24 cases in total recorded.
The government, which has not held a press conference or made national announcements for five days, released a statement attributed to Permanent Secretary for Health Dr James Fong to say all of the local cases have been the result of local testing.
However, 11,000 samples sent to an Australian lab to speed up government contact tracing efforts has resulted in only one positive result out of the first 7,000 samples tested. Another 4,000 samples are still being processed.
The health head said the high number of negative results weren't a surprised because the majority of the first 7000 samples, taken as part of measures following an outbreak at a popular supermarket in the capital city Suva, "were from outside the containment areas, including a large number of samples from the Northern Division."
Dr Fong said the second batch of the samples in Australia are mostly from the containment areas of Suva, Nasinu, Nausori, Nadi and Lautoka.
However, the one sample that has come back positive from the 11,000 sent to Australia had already been tested in Lautoka, confirmed positive and the patient treated and subsequently sent home when they recovered.
Photo: AFP
"No further action is needed for this case, and our total case number remains the same," he said.
Of the latest cases announced today, four are from two separate households in Muanikoso just outside of Nasinu town, detected during screening in the neighbourhood for the past several days since multiple cases were found there.
Two cases are linked to the Samabula cluster announced over the weekend. One is a primary contact of the initial cluster and another is an employee of a catering group hired for a funeral gathering held at the Samabula house where the cluster began.
Two cases are from Nadawa and 7 miles, both Nasinu neighbourhoods who are linked to patient 211 from the Tacirua cluster also announced on the weekend.
One patient recovered today so while 99 people remain in isolation, there have been 135 recoveries out of the 238 reported since March 19, 2020.
Nadi Hospital is now the government's six Covid-19 testing facility after they started using 4 new GeneXpert machines and so it boosted the total testing count to 1933 samples on Sunday alone.
Warning about gathering
The government continues to sound warnings against social gatherings after investigations of the recently high number of daily cases revealed the virus has been spreading commonly within workplaces and during social gatherings.
"Particularly workplaces with large numbers of staff, like supermarkets, are at high risk for spread of the infection. We are urging all workplaces, including supermarkets and other commercial establishments to review your procedures and make sure you are complying with the protocols we have established to eliminate spread," Dr Fong said.
The government which last week encouraged businesses to set up new stricter Covid responsive operations and thereby qualify for Covid-19 passes to reopen has called on the commercial sectors and operators of public transportation to enforce limits on capacity.
It said these operators must also enforce masking and be diligent about cleaning and disinfecting surfaces to ensure staff safety.
Dr James Fong. Photo: Facebook/Fiji govt
"We have also seen evidence that people have traveled on public transport or done shopping despite experiencing symptoms. We all must take individual responsibility for stopping the spread of this virus. Everyone should recognize the symptoms by now."
The government continues to reiterate the use of its Covid-19 tracing app as well as its daily call that those who experience the symptoms, no matter how mild, must be screened immediately.
In a change from past warnings that people call for health authorities to visit, the MOH advisory is now that those who experience Covid-19 symptoms to visit the nearest mobile screening centre and maintain Covid-19 protocols but to not take public transportation while doing so.
"If you do not know where the nearest screening centre is located, call 158 and ask. Do not use public transport if you have any symptoms. If you cannot get to a screening centre, again, call 158 for assistance."
"It is very important for everyone who experiences any of these symptoms to assume that they have contracted the virus. Do not assume that it's nothing and just hope for the best. The responsible act is to assume the worst and act with extreme caution," he said.
Screening teams will now be increased in settlements where there have been cases and houses are close to each other.