COVID-19 cases

The personnel who tested positive are "well and asymptomatic", FRU chief executive John O'Connor said, adding that the men's and women's teams were still hoping to compete in the following round in Seville from Jan. 28-30.

"Taking in consideration that the entire team are primary contacts ... teams have moved into the mandatory seven days isolation," O'Connor said.

Fiji's men's side, who defeated New Zealand to retain their Olympic Rugby Sevens gold in Tokyo last year, are sixth in the standings, while the women's team are second, four points behind leaders Australia.

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.

One of the cases arrived in Vanuatu from Fiji on 24 November and the other travelled from Australia on 1 December.

The ministry said the two cases are classified as they have fully recovered and pose no Covid-19 threat to any other person.

Both will be discharged from isolation today and will be reunited with the families and communities for the festive season.

Tasmania has also reported its first case, after the border to the rest of the country reopened yesterday.

Queensland has 22 new cases of Covid and 18 of those were detected outside quarantine, Health Minister Yvette D'Ath said.

The local cases spent up to a week in the community and were recorded in Brisbane's south, Brisbane's north, the Darling Downs, the Gold Coast, the Sunshine Coast, West Moreton and the Wide Bay.

D'Ath said most were acquired while in another state.

One case is a passenger who arrived on a flight from Fiji on 24 November 2021 and the other arrived on the 1 December 2021 on a flight from Australia.

Prime Minister Bob Loughman confirmed the new cases in a press conference.  

Neither of the passengers showed any signs or symptoms of Covid-19.

The Ministry of Health said Samples are being sent overseas to determine the Covid-19 variant for each.

There is currently no evidence of transmission of Covid-19 in the community.

They have been placed in isolation at a hotel near Schiphol airport.

They were among some 600 passengers held for several hours after arrival while they were tested for the virus.

Dutch health authorities said Omicron, labelled on Friday as a variant of concern, was "probably found in a number of people" who tested positive.

Other European countries, including the UK and Germany, have confirmed cases of the Omicron variant.

The Government also confirmed eight of the latest cases were recorded in the 24 hours to 8am Thursday.

There are no deaths to report and the toll remains at 694.

Health Secretary James Fong said 17 Covid patients are in hospital, eight in the central division and nine in the west.

"We have recorded 596 Covid-19 positive patients who died from serious medical conditions they had before they contracted Covid. These are not classified as Covid-19 deaths."

In a statement, the Ministry said today's official cases included 142 in Auckland, 17 in Waikato, five in Northland, and one each in the Bay of Plenty, Lakes, and Canterbury DHB areas.

The Ministry said the continued spread of the coronavirus to regions throughout New Zealand was a "reminder that everyone needs to heed the advice that will help keep our communities as safe as possible".

Today's daily case count is the lowest recorded in Victoria since 26 September, when the state recorded 845 cases, 695 of which were local.

There are now 17,518 active cases of the virus in Victoria, and 416 people have died in the state during the current Delta outbreak.

There are 378 people in hospital with the virus, of whom 78 are in intensive care and 48 are on a ventilator.

The health department said a further 71 people are in intensive care, but their Covid-19 infections are no longer considered active.

The cases entered Vanuatu from New Caledonia on Friday, 22 October and were detected as positive on Sunday, 24 October.

Both active cases have been transferred to the Covid-19 isolation facility.

Loughman confirmed that test results from Doherty Institute in Australia indicated that the Covid-19 variant is delta.