Two new cases of COVID-19 infections have been reported this afternoon.
This after – as of today – 685 laboratory tests and 20,201 in-person health screenings.
Ministry of Health permanent secretary Dr James Fong said one of the two patients – a 53-year-old caretaker of the Ra Provincial Office – was of concern in that it would require additional investigation into his contacts to determine if he was definitively linked to other active cases.
He said the man showed symptoms of COVID – in his case, those were body aches – when he visited the Nanukuloa Health Centre on April 24.
“He has been moved securely to the isolation ward at Lautoka Hospital, as per standard operating procedure.,” Dr Fong said.
He added the man’s family members had been swabbed and quarantined at the Ra Special School with Police officers providing security at the facility.
The second of today’s new cases is a 25-year-old male who had stayed at the house of the lady from Makoi.
“We established that he was a close contact through our contact tracing, and we tested him because of that close contact despite the fact that he had no symptoms. He stayed in Makoi from April 12-19 and he went to Vunimono, Nausori where he was retrieved and swabbed.”
He said four teams were facilitating contact tracing based on the young man’s travel history.
“He has been securely transferred to an isolation unit in Colo-i-Suva. His primary contacts are also quarantined at Colo-i-Suva.”
Today, the total number of known COVID cases in Fiji totals 111 since the first case was detected on March 19 in 2020.
44 of these cases are currently active and isolated.
