Fiji has recorded its first coronavirus case under the Blue Lanes initiative, after a man onboard a yacht that sailed from Papua New Guinea tested positive for the virus, in one of the country’s three new border quarantine cases.
Fijian authorities said the man, aged 44 years, did not make any other stops, other than the designated quarantine mooring at Denarau, upon entering Fiji waters on 6 March.
He returned a weak positive test result while observing his 14-day quarantine on board the yacht and had a returned a negative test before departing PNG’s capital Port Moresby and is unlikely to be infectious, the Ministry of Health said in a statement.
The man has since been transferred to the isolation ward at Lautoka Hospital while everyone else onboard the yacht will need to complete the mandatory quarantine and return at least returned two negative results before they can be released.
Introduced in July 2020, the Blue lane initiative caters for ocean travellers onboard yachts and pleasure crafts seeking to explore Fiji, and at the same time, assist in the country’s tourism sector recovery. Under the initiative, 107 yachts have arrived in Fiji.
The other two border quarantine cases are both females, aged 69 and 39 years who arrived in Fiji from California via flight FJ1813 on 1 March.
“Both currently have no symptoms. One of the individuals had returned a weak positive result and is considered a historical case. Both have been transferred to the isolation ward at Lautoka hospital according to the standard protocol for positive cases.”
The three new cases bring to seven, Fiji’s active cases after two more people out of six initial cases recovered. Fiji now has had 66 cases, with seven active, two deaths and 57 recoveries.
