Fiji

He said that is the reason the tsunami warning was late on 15 January following the volcanic eruption in Tonga.

Usamate reassured that the Seismology Unit in the country monitors the likelihood of tsunamis every 24 hours.

He added that this month alone 70 earthquake activity was picked up by the unit, with 13 of those occurring locally.

“So because the whole system was oriented towards earthquakes when they had this volcanic activity that might lead to tsunami, they did not have the parameters to measure that this volcano leads to tsunami.”

A 75-year-old man with pre-existing medical condition died at the Colonial War Memorial Hospital in Suva on the first of this month.

The Ministry of Health’s Permanent Secretary, Doctor James Fong said the man was not fully vaccinated as he had only received one dose of the vaccine.

The other death is that of a 64-year-old man from the Central Division with a significant pre-existing medical condition.

He was admitted to the CWM Hospital on the third of this month and passed away a day later. He had only received the first dose of the vaccine.

Acting Prime Minister, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum announced the change yesterday afternoon.

Sayed-Khaiyum said the curfew was implemented to prevent non-essential gatherings that can spread Covid-19 and allow for contact tracing at certain hours of the evening.

He said in some ways it served as a national barometer of progress towards normalcy.

Saiyed-Khaiyum also announced the changes in some of the health measures that have come into effect today.

Even though the curfew is removed, nightclubs will not be allowed to operate.

The baby was admitted at the CWM Hospital in Suva and her medical records reflected that she had a congenital medical condition that contributed to the severity of her illness and death on Monday.

All eight deceased were from the Central Division.

809 people have died due to COVID-19 in Fiji so far.

The Ministry of Health also recorded 95 new cases of which 83 are from n Tuesday and 12 new cases in the last 24 hours ending at 8 am yesterday.

The Ministry of Health’s Permanent Secretary, Dr. James Fong is urging all Fijians who are eligible to get vaccinated or take their booster shots.

Dr. Fong highlighted that the analysis of the first 95 deaths in the vaccine eligible population during this third wave has revealed that fully vaccinated adults have 16.2 times lower rate of death from Covid-19 than unvaccinated adults.

This takes the death toll since the pandemic hit the country in 2020 to 791.

Fiji's Government also confirmed on Wednesday the 10 day-old infant, 8 year-old girl and 13 year-old boy are among 12 Covid-19 patients who died.

There are 223 new cases in the community, with a total of 1,980 patients in isolation.

Health Secretary Dr James Fong said all three children were from the Northern Division.

He said the baby had passed away at home before she could be taken to the hospital.

This comes amid 16 deaths and close to 350 new cases reported in the community last weekend.

Fiji's Health Secretary Dr James Fong says the spike in cases was experienced after a few health measures were relaxed in November last year.

"Our biggest worry remains compliance to the informal setting, especially among the informal dwellings where we may have some problem with providing oversight over the Covid-safe measures.

"They remain the most significant areas of risk and the most significant areas of transmission that can happen," Dr Fong said

Children aged 5 to 12 have been at home since April last year while Year 12 and 13 students returned to classes in November.

Health Minister Dr Ifereimi Waqainabete said the coronavirus is now endemic to Fiji and community transmission will lead to the same in schools.

Under the new measures, people have been told to stay at home and social gatherings are banned.

Some 36 people on the flight from Fiji have tested positive. Four people have caught the virus from community transmission.

Until last week, Kiribati had recorded just two Covid cases.

Kiribati is one of the most isolated islands in the world. It is some 4,800km (2,980 miles) from its nearest continent, Australia.

The Ministry of Health confirmed that there are 659 new cases of which 312 new cases were recorded on Tuesday and 347 new cases yesterday.

Meanwhile, there have been six deaths recorded as well from the virus.

MOH’s Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong said due to the protection afforded by the vaccination programme, the reported deaths have been much less compared to the previous wave.