When permanent secretary for Health and Medical Services Dr James Fong announced yesterday’s staggering 150 new cases of COVID-19, it should have attracted attention.
That’s the number of cases in the 24-hour period ending at 8am yesterday.
Because if people still haven’t taken this latest outbreak to heart, then we have a major concern at hand.
It makes us look bad as citizens fighting a war against the virus.
The number continues to grow daily, and the clusters appear to be expanding as well.
It’s not something we can afford to disregard now.
Health experts have been reminding us about working together so that our system is not overwhelmed.
It is a concern, but could we be heading that way?
So the question is what should be done right now to quickly arrest any further spread?
What can we do now to bend the curve, and get our numbers down again?
It seems many people are not taking expert advice seriously.
It seems we still have Fijians who feel they are immune to the virus.
Many are still moving around unnecessarily.
Many are still entering other bubbles, and in many instances, they are encouraged or invited to enter different bubbles.
What will it take to keep people at home?
That seems to be a critical factor.
Understandably there are logistical and other associated issues to contend with.
We realise there are implications to consider on factors like our economy, the ability of Fijians to feed themselves, employment, the impact on our various industries and this stretches to the export market for instance.
Decision time is going to be tough.
However, Fijians are looking up to the powers that be to make tough decisions for the greater good of the nation and its people.
In the face of all this, we see Australia’s commitment to stand with Fiji by deploying an Australian medical assistance team to assist Fiji’s response to the current outbreak.
In a joint media release Australian Minister of Health and Aged Care Greg Hunt and Minister for International Development and the Pacific Zed Seslja said the multi-disciplinary AUSMAT team would include members from Australia and New Zealand and would deploy for an initial period of 28 days.
“This deployment responds to a request from the Government of Fiji,” the joint statement said.
We learn that the team will work with the Ministry of Health and will provide immediate support for health system management and infection prevention control, as well as assessments of Fiji’s priority health needs.
This assistance is welcomed and we hope will serve as reassurance that we can get this outbreak under control.
However, we have to reiterate the fact that we must all play our parts as well.
Let’s adhere strictly to COVID-19 advice, and most importantly, let’s stay home.
Stay in your own little bubbles, and do not allow anyone from outside your bubble to enter it.
Please do this for yourself, your loved ones and for the thousands of suffering Fijians around the country.
This is not the time to disregard the virus and live dangerously.
Fiji needs you to do the right thing.
Please!
Stay home!
