Four overseas arrivals tested positive for coronavirus while in quarantine in Nadi, but only three are considered Fiji cases.
The four, all in their 30s, of two females and two males, arrived into Fiji on 21 December in separate flights from India and England via Hong Kong.
Two, a female and a male both aged 32 years, arrived from New Delhi on flight GA8250. Of the other two, a female aged 34 years had travelled from England via Hong Kong on flight FJ392. The fourth person, a male traveller aged 31 years, was also on the same flight FJ392 from Hong Kong.
Regarding the fourth person’s COVID-19 status, the Ministry of Health said he had already tested positive on two occasions prior to arriving in Fiji, during his travels in France and the United Kingdom from October-December thus would not be counted as a Fiji case, having already been accounted for in another country.
“He remains symptom free, and is considered a historical case. It is known that non-infectious pieces of the virus can remain detectable, and cause a positive test result, long after the infection has passed; therefore it is unlikely that this person is currently infectious,” the Ministry of Health said.
However, as a precaution, he has been transferred to the isolation ward at Lautoka hospital, along with the other three who remain asymptomatic and are well.
The country’s three new cases bring up Fiji’s total COVID-19 numbers to 49 since the first case on 19 March. Fiji’s total border cases to date stands at 31.
As per norm, the Health Ministry said frontline border and quarantine staff who were directly involved with the cases have followed their standard infection prevention and control protocols, and would be monitored and tested as necessary.
