{"id":235620,"date":"2021-04-26T10:58:48","date_gmt":"2021-04-26T07:58:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/fiji-capital-in-lockdown-after-virus-superspreader-event\/"},"modified":"2021-04-26T10:58:48","modified_gmt":"2021-04-26T07:58:48","slug":"fiji-capital-in-lockdown-after-virus-superspreader-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/fiji-capital-in-lockdown-after-virus-superspreader-event\/","title":{"rendered":"#Fiji capital in lockdown after virus ‘superspreader’ event"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Fiji capital in lockdown after virus ‘superspreader’ event<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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The Fijian capital Suva entered a 14-day lockdown Monday as the Pacific island nation battled to contain a COVID-19 spike following a “superspreader” funeral event.\n <\/p>\n

Around 100,000 people in the city must stay in containment zones and non-essential businesses are shuttered after the first community coronavirus cases in 12 months were detected.<\/p>\n

A soldier contracted the virus at a quarantine facility and is believed to have transmitted it to a maid, who then exposed up to 500 people at a funeral.<\/p>\n

The permanent secretary for health and medical services, James Fong, said four new cases emerged over the weekend. <\/p>\n

“Three of the cases involved persons who attended the funeral that we have identified as a superspreader event, including a husband and wife who circulated through the community,” Fong said.<\/p>\n

It is not clear how the fourth person, a woman from the outskirts of Suva, became infected.<\/p>\n

“She and her husband have been placed in quarantine, but prudence requires us to treat this case as a possible community transmission,” Fong said.<\/p>\n

“Because we cannot yet pin down the movements of these people and identify all their contacts, we are forced to take strict precautionary measures.” <\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The emergence of community transmission is a blow for Fiji’s hopes of opening quarantine-free travel<\/a> bubbles with Australia and New Zealand, the source of most of its international visitors.<\/p>\n

Fiji’s economy is heavily dependent on tourism, which has all but evaporated during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Monthly visitor numbers were down up to 99 percent from pre-pandemic levels, according to government statistics.<\/p>\n

Australia and New Zealand opened a trans-Tasman bubble a week ago allowing quarantine-free travel between the two countries\u2014although New Zealand has since suspended contact with Western Australia due to a COVID-19 outbreak in Perth.\n <\/p>\n\n

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Follow the latest news<\/a> on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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\n \u00a9 2021 AFP<\/p>\n

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Citation<\/strong>:
\n Fiji capital in lockdown after virus ‘superspreader’ event (2021, April 26)
\n retrieved 26 April 2021
\n from https:\/\/medicalxpress.com\/news\/2021-04-fiji-capital-lockdown-virus-superspreader.html<\/p>\n

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