COVID-19

Staff of Fiji’s COVID-19 Incident Management Team test positive for COVID-19

As a result the ministry has stood-down all personnel operating from the third floor of the Ministry of Health and Medical Services Headquarters in Suva.

Among the staff who are now working from home are Permanent Secretary for Health, Dr James Fong, Head of Health Protection, Dr Aalisha Sahukhan, and Chief Medical Advisor, Dr Jemesa Tudravu.

They have been identified as secondary contacts of the three cases.

The ministry said the primary contacts have been identified and safely quarantined.

Consumer prices in Pacific impacted in 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic

As a consequence, many families saw a decline in their incomes necessitating recourse to a range of coping strategies. The reports of the World Bank’s High Frequency Phone Monitoring Surveys of Households conducted in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands during the year throws further light on this.

With less to spend, consumer demand weakened. More and more people turned to, for example, growing food for their own consumption, sewing/mending their own clothes and forgoing personal activities such as going to the hairdresser, eating out, etc.

The Australian millennials desperate for vaccines

For most millennials it's off-limits right now, a reality many argue is holding them back - and risking their future.

Four months into Australia's vaccine programme, most people aged under 40 still aren't eligible to get the jab. The country has been running a rollout in stages based on age and vulnerability.

The process has also been held up by supply issues, delivery failures and concerns over the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Fiji’s second wave caused by COVID-19 Indian variant/Delta Plus

The Permanent Secretary for Health James Fong said Fijians have become too "complacent and wishful thinking" in their response to the second wave of the virus.

He said positive samples sent to a Melbourne laboratory had confirmed that the Indian variant of the virus is circulating in Fiji.

The Indian variant was first detected in India last October and has since spread to more than 40 other countries.

Parts of 2 major hospitals in Fiji closed due to new COVID-19 cases

After the discovery of the new cases, parts of the Colonial War Memorial Hospital in Suva and the Nadi Hospital are now on lockdown.

Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong, said five cases are from the Navosai Narere cluster outside Suva , one from Waila in Nausori, one from Nawaka in Nadi and two are from the CWM hospital.

Victoria records three new local Covid-19 cases

A total of nine local cases were recorded on Monday, which included six flagged by the government at its daily Covid-19 press conference yesterday.

The state recorded 42,699 test results and 20,484 vaccinations at state-run centres.

There are now 329 exposure sites, with the South Melbourne ALDI, the Woolworths at Heidelberg and a number of sites in Brimbank Shopping Centre added last night as Tier 1 sites.

Federal Aged Care Services Minister Richard Colbeck said he was comfortable with the pace of the vaccine roll out in aged care.

COVID-19: Japan extends state of emergency just before Olympics

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said that although infection were falling they remained high, and that some hospitals were still under strain

Restriction will be in place until 19 June, five weeks before the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics are due to start.

Organisers said they would wait until the emergency ends on 20 June to decide whether to allow local fans to attend.

Overseas fans have already been barred.

Melbourne lockdown: Fears over outbreak sparks restrictions

The lockdown will begin at midnight on Thursday (14:00 GMT).

Authorities have so far found 26 cases, and identified 150 sites where people may have been exposed to the virus.

There is growing anxiety over the outbreak which reminds many locals of a devastating second wave that swept the state last year.

Victoria's acting Premier James Merlino said the outbreak involved a highly contagious strain of the virus, the B.1.617 variant. A returned traveller was infected with the strain, which Mr Merlino said was spreading "faster than we have ever recorded".

'Fortress Australia': Why calls to open up borders are meeting resistance

That's in large part thanks to the early move to shut its borders - a policy that has consistently been supported by the public.

But after a year in the cocoon, there is growing unease in the country over the so-called "Fortress Australia" policy.

Recent announcements declaring that Australia won't open up until mid-2022 - meaning a two year-plus isolation - have amplified concerns.

Expectations recede for Pacific road to recovery

A year ago, 42% (143 respondents) expected to return to pre-COVID revenue levels by 2021, reflecting at the time improved confidence in a more positive outlook. This is in comparison to the most recent survey, where 12 % (106 respondents), remain confident of returning to pre-COVID revenue in 2021 and 50% expecting it in 2022 or later.