23 Apr 2021

Fiji confirms two more community Covid-19 cases

7:09 am on 23 April 2021

There are now five community Covid -19 cases in Fiji.

The latest victims are the children of the Suva woman confirmed with the virus on Wednesday.

They are a 14 year-old girl and a seven-month-old baby boy.

The 40 year-old woman and her family, from the Wainitarawau settlement in Cunningham in Suva, are thought to have caught Covid-19 at a funeral in Lautoka last week.

That event was also attended by a hotel maid, who had tested positive for Covid-19 earlier.

A Red Cross volunteer shares a message about Covid-19 transmissions through a window to a family in Uciwai Settlement, Nadi.

A Red Cross volunteer shares a message about Covid-19 transmissions through a window to a family in Uciwai Settlement, Nadi. Photo: Fiji Red Cross

The permanent secretary of Fiji's Ministry of Health, Dr James Fong, said the teenager was at school on Monday and his staff were working to track her movements.

He was reported on FBC online saying "we believe there is little chance that she passed the virus to others. However, out of an abundance of caution, we will be running a screening exercise based on the daughter's movement."

Dr Fong confirmed it was the same cluster from which the maid had contracted the virus from a soldier first diagnosed on Sunday, after coming into contact with a couple who had returned from India and were positive.

He also announced that from tomorrow hair dressers, barber shops, spas, beauty and massage venues, saunas and tattoo parlours would close for the next 14 days.

Get the RNZ app

for ad-free news and current affairs