Fiji's capital enters lockdown after Covid-19 'superspreader' funeral event
The Fijian capital Suva entered a 14-day lockdown Monday as the Pacific island nation battled to contain a Covid-19 spike carrying out a "superspreader" funeral event. Around 100,000 persons in metropolis must stay in containment zones and non-essential companies are shuttered following the first community coronavirus cases in 12 months were detected. A soldier contracted the virus at a quarantine facility and is thought to have transmitted it to a maid, who then exposed up to 500 people at a funeral. The everlasting secretary for health insurance and medical services, James Fong, said four new cases emerged over the weekend.
"Three of the cases involved folks who attended the funeral that people have identified as a superspreader event, including a couple who circulated through the community," Fong said.It is not clear how the fourth person, a woman from the outskirts of Suva, became infected.
"She and her husband have already been located in quarantine, but prudence requires us to treat this case as a possible community transmission," Fong said. "Because we can not yet pin down the movements of the people and identify all their contacts, we are forced to take strict protective measures."
Fiji has largely contained the virus through strict isolation measures and border controls, recording fewer than 100 cases and just two deaths in a population of 930,000.The emergence of community transmission is a blow for Fiji's hopes of opening quarantine-free travel bubbles with Australia and New Zealand, the foundation of almost all of its international visitors.
Fiji's economy is heavily reliant on tourism, which has all but evaporated through the pandemic. Monthly visitor numbers were down up to 99 percent from pre-pandemic levels, according to government statistics.Australia and New Zealand opened a trans-Tasman bubble yesterday allowing quarantine-free travel between your two countries -- although New Zealand has since suspended contact with Western Australia due to a Covid-19 outbreak in Perth.
