As COVID-19 inevitably advanced into communities across the country, containment and lockdown measures caused fear and panic across the country.
Fijians began worrying about their everyday lives and their ability to provide food for their families.
Some rushed to supermarkets and began bulk buying after Government announced the country should be prepared for a long battle with containing COVID-19.
However, poignant in the midst of the chaos, frustration and fear, was the kindness and goodwill that continued to prevail with many reaching out to help the less fortunate ones.
An interesting event too that month was the report on a man who pretended he was a “stranded” police officer and worked out of a police station in Suva for three weeks.
MAY 1 SUVA and Nausori residents were under a 56-hour lockdown with no one allowed to leave their homes.
MAY 2 HEALTH Ministry permanent secretary Dr James Fong issued a notice for the province of Ra to be put on a complete lockdown after two new COVID-19 cases.
MAY 4 HEALTH Ministry permanent secretary Dr James Fong says Fijians should be prepared for a long battle to contain COVID-19. At a news conference in Suva, Dr Fong said health teams were prepared for a containment strategy “that lasts months” and “every Fijian must be ready as well”.
MAY 5 GOVERNMENT plans to spend up to $6 million to assist thousands of households in the country’s six containment areas. Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed- Khaiyum said those living outside of the containment zone and could not go to work because of the COVID-19 restriction measures.
MAY 6 INSENSITIVE, shameful and despicable. That was how the CSO Alliance for COVID-19 Humanitarian Response labelled Government’s $7 million plan for a Prime Minister’s office complex.
MAY 7 KINDNESS continues to prevail in the midst of all uncertainty and chaos with Fijians such as Daniel Kumar giving hope to families separated by circumstances beyond their control. Despite being robbed $100 and his taxidriver job as a result, the Naikabula Lautoka resident took home a family from Sigatoka found stranded at the bus stand as a result of the lockdown of the Sugar City.
MAY 8 NURSES locked down inside the Lautoka Hospital were having sleepless nights, worried about the welfare of family members at home, says Fiji Nursing Association president Dr Alisi Vudiniabola.
MAY 9 CHAOS and frustration appeared to be the order of the day for some Fijians as they faced issues with public service transportation. This, after Health Ministry permanent secretary Dr James Fong announced that people living on Viti Levu, who were outside of the six containment areas, could travel into containment areas until May 9.
MAY 11 PEOPLE are worried about two things – their ability to provide food for their family and fear of what could happen next, says Save the Children Fiji chief executive officer Shairana Ali. She said COVID-19 containment had separated people from their places of work and they were receiving requests for help, especially from single income families.
MAY 13 PEOPLE could resort to drugs to sedate loneliness and depression during lockdowns as a result of heightened COVID-19 containment measures, says Operation Foundation founder, the Rev Peter Schultz.
MAY 14 FIJI recorded a second locally-transmitted COVID-19 death on this day.
MAY 15 THREE Fiji Centre for Disease Control (CDC) team tested positive for COVID-19.
MAY 17 THE surge in people taking out their frustration on social media is a result of the devastating impact of COVID-19 on mental health, says Fiji’s renowned psychotherapist, Selina Kuruleca.
MAY 18 POLICE confi rmed that a man who pretended he was a “stranded” cop and worked out of a police station in Suva for three weeks has been charged.
MAY 19 FIJI continued to record new cases and Health permanent secretary Dr James Fong warned the fi ght would not be a 30- day war because the variant was more transmissible and the clusters of cases larger and more widespread.
MAY 24 FIJI should bite the bullet and shut down Viti Levu for a month to effectively take control of the COVID-19 outbreak, says former prime minister Sitiveni Rabuka.
MAY 25 SALOTE Raluve, 62, is still reeling from news of the alleged slaying on the high seas of her younger brother, Qiritivabea Cagilabakomeli, 42.
MAY 26 THE Queen Elizabeth Barracks in Nabua, Suva, was sealed off after four staff of the George Mate Medical Centre tested positive for COVID-19, says (RFMF) Commander Rear Admiral Viliame Naupoto.
MAY 27 OPPOSITION MPs call on Government ministers to take a pay cut and the State save money by removing assistant ministers. They also call for a slash in the pay of CEOs of subsidiary bodies, or do away with hiring expatriates for executive positions.
MAY 28 THE Fiji CSO Alliance for COVID-19 Humanitarian Response call on Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum to resign. The Alliance said the economy was falling at an alarming rate and it was deeply concerned about the growing humanitarian crisis in Fiji.
MAY 31 GOVERNMENT made a hard decision to lift certain containment areas. In his national address, the Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama said Fiji had to open its borders to recommence economic activity. However, Mr Bainimarama said Fijians must not tolerate or turn a blind eye to noncompliance with the COVID-19 measures.
