Fiji

The Friday death of a 66 year old man came after he had contracted the coronavirus while in India undergoing medical treatment there.

Health Minister Ifereimi Waqainabete said many Fijians returning home were elderly and had serious underlying health conditions which increased the risk of mortality.

He said while the government was aware of the risk that some of citizens may have contracted the potentially deadly virus abroad, the health ministry had prepared accordingly.

At a press conference today (Friday), the Minister for Health Dr Ifereimi Waqainabete said the man had returned from India where he had recently undergone cardiac-related surgery.

The man contracted COVID-19 in India.

There were nine border quarantine cases reported from Fijians who were repatriated from India on 1 July.

The cases were confirmed on 20 July.

According to Dr Waqainabete, each of the patients have been securely isolated and have not had any contact with the public.

There has been no new COVID-19 case since 20 July.

Amenoni Nasilasila was sentenced to eight years in September for the 2018 rape of a young woman.

Last week, the 26-year-old Olympic gold medallist was reportedly seen training with the Namosi rugby teams in Suva.

But women's rights groups say the preferential treatment of high-profile prisoners has to stop.

Shamima Ali, of the Fiji Women's Crisis Centre, said the fact that Nasilasila's non-parole period was six years also highlighted the complete disregard by the department to allow him to participate in training with the Prisons and Namosi rugby teams.

The 50-year-old woman is a repatriated Fijian citizen who returned from India on 1 July.

She is the wife of one of the earlier announced border quarantine cases from the same flight.

When her husband tested positive they were both moved from quarantine to an isolation facility at Lautoka Hospital.

She had tested negative during a first round of testing but tested positive after a second round.

The new case brings to a total of nine border quarantine cases announced since 6 July, all repatriated citizens from the same flight.

They include a 44-year-old man, a 38-year-old woman, a 51-year-old man, a 29-year-old woman and a 47-year-old man.

The acting permanent secretary of health, James Fong, said one of them is the husband of one of the three patients confirmed earlier this week.

He said all eight cases were caught in border quarantine and there's no threat to the community.

Dr Fong said they are all stable in isolation at Nadi and Lautoka hospitals.

All eight people were passengers on the same repatriation flight from India, which arrived in Nadi on Saturday.

One of them is the 37 year-old son of the man who was confirmed to have the coronavirus yesterday.

They returned on a repatriation flight from India on Saturday.

The other confirmed case is a 36 year-old woman who was on the same flight.

The acting permanent secretary of health, Dr James Fong, said the cases were caught in border quarantine and that there was no threat to the community.

"Fiji's defences against Covid-19 have been tried and tested with the first 18 cases and now with border quarantine cases," Dr Fong said.

A 66-year-old man, who returned from India on a repatriation flight on Saturday, tested positive for COVID-19 last night.

Acting Permanent Secretary for the Health Ministry Dr James Fong said the man’s son has been tested and his results are expected by tomorrow.

FBC News reports The man was travelling with 107 other passengers on a repatriation flight from India over the weekend.

At a media conference, Dr Fong said this is case 19 and it is called border quarantine case.

He said they don’t expect this to be Fiji’s last border quarantine case.

The economic strains caused by COVID-19 have prompted leaders of the five member countries of the Melanesian Spearhead Group, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Solomon Islands, New Caledonia and Vanuatu, to discuss a potential bubble. 

At a leaders' meeting last week in Port Vila, Acting Director of the Secretariat, George Hoa'au, said a Five Point Sustainability Plan was being developed to help ensure members are resilient to the challenges. 

But commentator Elisapeci Waqanivala said that the discussion isn't providing enough details for people to be aware of its real intention.

A coalition of NGOs says the pandemic has been a disaster for the country with the tourism sector shedding 100,000 jobs in the tourism-dependent country.

The rural development organisation FRIEND says the job losses each represent a household of four people, which accounts for half the country's bread winners.

FRIEND's chief executive Sashi Kiran said that doesn't take into account the informal sector.

"We've had massive layoffs, from Airports Fiji, Fiji Airways, lots and lots of companies," she said.

The cyclone caused widespread devastation, particularly in rural and maritime communities.

But even before this cyclone hit, Fiji, like the rest of the world were already fighting our own battle against COVID-19. Businesses have been affected and many have lost their jobs and are struggling to support their families.

This pandemic will continue to spread, and affect our people if not prevented.

Pacific Energy values the lives of every Fijian.