7 Jul 2020

Fiji confirms two new Covid-19 cases

8:03 pm on 7 July 2020

Two new cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in Fiji, both in border quarantine.

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

Covid-19 coronavirus particles, illustration. The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus was first identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019.

Photo: AFP / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

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.

"What we have shown, and what we need to continue to demonstrate, is that we have systems and processes in place to continue to contain Covid-19 and to avoid the spread into our communities."

All three patients are being held in isolation at Lautoka Hospital.