Editorial comment – Relationships matter

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Minister for Health and Medical Service Dr Ifereimi Waqainabete. Picture: SOPHIE RALULU

Sometimes we need to get our bearings to appreciate the support we get from our international partners and supporters.

Given our predicament in the face of the global pandemic, we are somehow buoyed by such assistance.

They allow us to address some critical areas, pinpoint shortfalls, and offer some semblance of order in the greater scheme of things.

It was encouraging to note that the Government yesterday received $510,000 worth of COVID-19 relief supplies from the US Embassy, to further strengthen its work in containing the virus.

Speaking at the handing over ceremony in Suva yesterday, Minister for Health Dr Ifereimi Waqainabete said assistance from donor partners such as the US had made their work easy.

In the face of natural disasters, he said, support from our donor partners inched out a sigh of relief.

He said, the support from the US towards Fiji’s fight against COVID-19 had amounted to $700,000.

This, he said, would strengthen Fiji’s health system “as we are now 344 days from when the first COVID-19 case was detected”.

US charge’d affaires Tony Greubel commended Fiji’s efforts in containing the virus.

He praised Fiji’s management and containment of COVID-19.

“It is an honour to contribute to your effective management of the pandemic,” he said.

The supplies were funded by the US-Indo-Pacific Command’s Overseas Humanitarian, Disease and Civic Aid (OHDACA) program to help stop the virus from spreading.

For whatever its worth, such assistance and the show of support are important facets of relationship building between our nations.

They reiterate the special relationship that exists between our nations, and serves as a reminder about the importance of continuing to nurture and strengthen this into the future.

On the international front, The Daily Telegraph yesterday reported the Queen made her first appearance since Prince Philip’s hospitalisation, criticising anti-vaxxers, and speaking about her experience with the COVID-19 vaccine.

She was quoted saying that people hesitant to have the COVID-19 jab need to “think about other people”.

A Labor MP with breast cancer, who became one of the first immunocompromised Australians to get the jab, has told others with underlying health conditions that it is safe, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Around 1300 people were vaccinated in New South Wales on the first day of the state’s inoculation rollout as an additional 166,000 does of the Pfizer vaccine arrived in Australia.

On the local front, the Ministry of Health and Medical Services yesterday announced two new border quarantine cases of COVID-19.

The first, a 22-year-old male travelled to Fiji from Durban, South Africa, arriving in Nadi from Auckland.

He returned a positive result during routine quarantine testing while undergoing mandatory 14-day quarantine in Nadi.

The second case is a 66-year-old female who travelled from Sacramento, United States of America.

She also returned a weak positive result during routine quarantine testing while undergoing mandatory 14-day quarantine in a government designated border quarantine facility in Nadi.

Both were transferred to the isolation ward at the Lautoka hospital in accordance with the standard protocol for COVID-19 cases.

We now have 59 cases, with three active cases, 54 recoveries and two deaths, since our first case was reported on March 19 last year.

Again, we are reminded about focusing on keeping the status quo as a COVID-contained country.

Together we can.

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