The national curfew start time has been moved back an hour – from 6pm to 7pm – effective tomorrow, Monday, August 23.

Fijian Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama made the announcement this evening, attributed to the 40 per cent full vaccination coverage of the target adult population.

The new curfew hours are now from 7pm to 4am daily.

He said once the 50 per cent target was achieved, the curfew start time will be moved to 8pm.

“Fully vaccinating 60 per cent of our target population will allow us to start the curfew at 9pm and lift the containment area borders in Viti Levu,” Mr Bainimarama said.

“At the 70 per cent threshold, the curfew will start at 10pm, and once we fully vaccinate 80 per cent of our target population, the curfew will start at 11pm. Throughout this gradual rollback, the end time of the curfew will remain 4am.

“Just because we plan to shorten the curfew hours does not give anyone a free pass to disregard any of our other health protection measures.

“Unless announced otherwise, they will all remain in place.

“Do not start party planning. Do not arrange for grog sessions after work or carelessly share cigarettes, or forget to wear your mask, or violate physical distancing. Do not let these extra hours cost us our vigilance – they should only be used for essential travel.”

Mr Bainimarama said if they saw widespread violations of COVID-safe practices, they would have to review, or even reset, this rollback.