Fiji

Mohammed Raheesh Isoof was convicted this afternoon after Justice Thushara Rajasinghe ruled that the prosecution proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Isoof had killed the family of five in August 2019.

Isoof was charged with five counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.

The bodies of a 63-year-old carpenter, Nirmal Kumar, his 54-year-old wife, Usha Devi, their 34-year-old daughter, Nileshni Kajal and Kajal's two daughters aged 11 and 8 years were discovered in the Nausori Highlands about 28km out of Nadi.

The eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai underwater volcano, about 65 kilometres north of Tonga’s capital of Nuku’alofa, caused a 1.2 metre tsunami at 5.30 pm local time Saturday 15 January.

A tidal wave was recorded in Fiji and tsunami warnings were issued for Fiji, Samoa, Vanuatu, New Zealand and Australia.

In a statement released today, Save the Children Fiji CEO Shairana Ali said the organisation was closely monitoring the situation and was prepared to respond where needed.

The Ministry of Health’s Permanent Secretary, Doctor James Fong said 142, 240 people are due to receive the booster dose this month, but the current stocks of the Moderna vaccine, which is being used as the booster dose, are in excess of 100,000 doses.

Dr Fong reassured that they are expecting more of the Pfizer vaccine by the middle of this month.

Since administering the booster jab, 39,179 people in Fiji have so far received their dose.

Meanwhile, the vaccination campaign also continues around the country.

Health staff who test positive for Covid-19 are being isolated which the government says has contributed to depleted staff numbers in the front-line.

Fiji's Health Minister Dr Ifereimi Waqainabete said with the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, containing any transmission is priority.

"What we've done is to make sure, we've used the available young doctors at CWM. They have been mobilized to support them in the health centres. So now they have a full cohort back on the ground," he said.

Photo file  Caption:  CWM Hospital in Suva Fiji  

Vanuatu High Commissioner in Fiji, Nikenike Vurobaravu, confirmed, Mr Vora was found dead in his home in Suva.

His body is now in the hospital, awaiting a post mortem.

The late Mr Vora is from Ambae island and has held the position of Education Attache in Fiji since 2014.

Prior to joining the Vanuatu High Commission in Fiji, he was the Education sector Analyst at the Prime Minister’s Office, a Principal Human Resource Manager at the Ministry of Education

The Ministry of Health confirmed that 368 cases of the total were recorded on Sunday and 93 in the

24 hours ending at 8 am on Monday.

MOH is still yet to release their latest update from yesterday.

Fiji has also recorded five deaths from Covid-19 in its latest update.

The first Covid-19 death is of a 63-year-old female from Tavua, who died on the 6th of this month.

She had significant pre-existing medical conditions and was fully vaccinated.

The second is of a 75-year-old unvaccinated man from Nausori.

This has been confirmed by the National Disaster Management Office.

As heavy rain continues to be experienced in parts of the country, the NDMO said a total of 156 evacuation centres have been opened.

There are 106 centres open in the Western Division, 33 centres in the Central Division, 16 in the North, and one in the Eastern Division.

The category 1 storm left one person dead, caused widespread flooding which forced close to 2,000 people to flee their homes and seek shelter at 110 evacuation centres activated across Fiji.

Minister for Rural and Maritime Development and Disaster Management Inia Seruiratu said the capital Suva was spared by Cody, but it had belted the whole of the main island Viti Levu with heavy rains since late last week.

Flash flooding was reported across the country and Seruiratu said Cody may intensify to a category 2 storm as it moved south west out of Fiji.

1,280 new cases of Covid-19 were reported last weekend, taking the total number of active cases to 4,429.

Health Secretary James Fong also confirmed the death toll is now 709.

Dr Fong said the five victims all died at home including a 27 year-old man.

Out of the 1,280 new cases, Dr Fong said 348 of them were recorded on 6 January, 320 on 7 January and 612 new cases in the last 24 hours ending at 8am on 5 January.

Fiji Meteorological Director, Terry Atalifo said TC Cody is moving towards the southwest of Kadavu.

Atalifo said the concern now is the associated rain bands which are expected to affect the Fiji group for the next few days.

“It’s expected to be slow-moving to the southwest of the Fiji group and then die further South in the coming days. We do not expect the TC to make any landfall in the Fiji group.”

Atalifo said the heavy rain warning remains in force for the group.

He added the flooding warning also remains in force.