Fiji needs people who are essential for the ongoing economic recovery of the country, says Health Ministry’s permanent secretary Dr James Fong.
He said despite the risks associated with bringing people from countries with high COVID-19 numbers, Fiji needed people who were essential to getting Fiji back on track economically.
He made the comment in response to queries from this newspaper after an announcement by the ministry yesterday of three new border quarantine cases.
The cases also included a non-Fiji citizen from Germany. “The man who came from Germany actually tested negative in Germany, from the country of origin, he tested negative but our test deemed him positive,” Dr Fong said.
“The current testings do indicate that he is most likely in the recovery phase of a prior infection.”
Dr Fong said the ministry was working to select specific people from various countries who could come in.
“The selected few are either the diplomats, people who are essential for the ongoing economic recovery of Fiji and our citizens.
“What we have in place is a process to limit the number who may come into Fiji positive but none of that process will be 100 per cent foolproof.
“My point is we cannot totally disengage from some of those countries, Fiji has to have diplomatic ties, it has to have economic recovery and we have to accept our citizens.”
According to a Health Ministry press statement, the 51-year-old who had a work permit for Fiji was asymptomatic.
The ministry said the two other cases were both in their 40s and had been working in a mining company in Mali.
The duo and also the man from Germany had boarded a repatriation flight from New Zealand on November 19. Fiji has 38 COVID-19 cases overall, of which three are active COVID cases after case number 35 was discharged from hospital.
“The frontline border and quarantine staff who were directly involved with these patients will all be monitored and tested as per COVID-19 protocols,” the ministry statement read.
The ministry also said the border health protection team would continue to diligently enforce quarantine and infection control protocols, and therefore the border quarantine cases continued to pose zero risk to the health and wellbeing of the Fijian public.
