{"id":2048,"date":"2021-07-06T11:48:03","date_gmt":"2021-07-06T11:48:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/?p=2048"},"modified":"2021-07-08T12:29:09","modified_gmt":"2021-07-08T12:29:09","slug":"after-fijis-initial-success-second-wave-of-covid-is-causing-grave-concern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/?p=2048","title":{"rendered":"After Fiji\u2019s initial success, second wave of COVID is causing grave concern"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Wellington:\u00a0<\/strong>The mortuary at Fiji\u2019s largest hospital is now full, the country\u2019s health ministry says, due to a second wave surge in daily coronavirus cases in the Pacific island nation.<\/p>\n

Although Fiji had early success during the pandemic with keeping the virus at bay by closing its borders, the highly transmissible Delta variant, first detected in India, is now spreading.<\/p>\n

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Fiji reported a record 636 COVID-19 infections and six deaths on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

To date, there have been 39 COVID-19 related deaths in Fiji, with 37 occurring since the outbreak that began in April.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The infections that erupted in the past few months were suspected to have been caused by someone breaching quarantine.<\/p>\n

Fiji\u2019s health system is straining under the weight of the outbreak, and hundreds of new cases are being reported daily.<\/p>\n

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The Colonial War Memorial Hospital in the capital, Suva, is Fiji\u2019s largest public hospital with 500 beds, and has been assigned the task of treating COVID-19 patients.<\/p>\n

On Monday, the government said many patients were seeking treatment too late, and the hospital\u2019s mortuary was full, even though some victims were dying at home.<\/p>\n

\u201cSadly we are seeing people with the severe disease die at home or on the way to the hospital before our medical teams have a chance to administer what could potentially be life-saving treatment,\u201d Fiji\u2019s Ministry for Health said in an emailed statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cDue to the mortuary now being utilised to full capacity, the concerned relatives are kindly requested to make immediate arrangements for the uplifting of the deceased from the mortuary, and the performance of final funeral rites for your loved ones,\u201d the ministry said.<\/p>\n

According to Johns Hopkins University, there have been 6513 cases in Fiji since the very first case was reported in March 2020, and 6443 of those were reported since April 2021.<\/p>\n

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n Monday, Fiji\u2019s Ministry of Health and Medical Services said there were 352 new cases of the virus, as well as three deaths to report in the past 24 hours. This followed a new daily high of 522 new infections on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Due to the outbreak, Fiji police have warned they are stepping up enforcement of COVID restrictions, RNZ reported.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Acting Police Commissioner Rusiate Tudravu issued the warning after 48 people were arrested in the last 24 hours for failing to wear a mask in a public place within a containment or lockdown zone.<\/p>\n

More than 1000 people have also been arrested for breaching the nation\u2019s 10pm to 4am curfew.<\/p>\n

RNZ Pacific correspondent in Suva, Lice Movono, says people are getting more and more worried.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of fearful people, so much anxiety and continuing distrust of the government, but the government is not coming out to explain itself very well, and we haven\u2019t seen our ministers, our prime minister, for a very long time now,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The island has a population of about 900,000. About 54 per cent of Fijians have received at least one dose of the AstraZeneca or Sinopharm vaccines, according to official data, while almost 9 per cent have received a second.<\/p>\n

The three latest deaths were all over the age of 50 and had not been vaccinated, and died at home or on their way to a health centre, the ministry said in a statement.<\/p>\n

In comparison, New Zealand\u2019s total death since the start of the pandemic sits at 26. There are currently no community cases in New Zealand.<\/p>\n

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The Fiji health ministry said that to date, it had recorded a further 15 COVID-19 positive patients who died from the serious medical conditions they had before they contracted the virus.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Following the latest announcement on Monday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she spoke to Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama last week, which was the second call they\u2019ve had in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

New Zealand has provided Fiji with $NZ40 million worth of aid and support in recent times, Ardern said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have provided support in the form of PPE and of course the commitment we\u2019ve made around AstraZeneca vaccines, which is what Fiji are using for their roll-out,\u201d Ardern said.<\/p>\n

New Zealand medical regulatory body Medsafe is yet to approve AstraZeneca, but Ardern said Fiji was made aware of the approval process and timeframe. New Zealand has also contacted Australia about helping Fiji with vaccines.<\/p>\n

Ardern said Bainimarama had acknowledged that New Zealand had sent over one member of the New Zealand Defence Force and another medical officer to support Fiji\u2019s work on infection control.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Papua New Guinea is also battling a jump in infections.<\/p>\n

Source: Stuff.co.nz, Reuters, SMH, AP<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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