Fiji

The category 1 storm left one person dead, caused widespread flooding which forced close to 2,000 people to flee their homes and seek shelter at 110 evacuation centres activated across Fiji.

Minister for Rural and Maritime Development and Disaster Management Inia Seruiratu said the capital Suva was spared by Cody, but it had belted the whole of the main island Viti Levu with heavy rains since late last week.

Flash flooding was reported across the country and Seruiratu said Cody may intensify to a category 2 storm as it moved south west out of Fiji.

1,280 new cases of Covid-19 were reported last weekend, taking the total number of active cases to 4,429.

Health Secretary James Fong also confirmed the death toll is now 709.

Dr Fong said the five victims all died at home including a 27 year-old man.

Out of the 1,280 new cases, Dr Fong said 348 of them were recorded on 6 January, 320 on 7 January and 612 new cases in the last 24 hours ending at 8am on 5 January.

Fiji Meteorological Director, Terry Atalifo said TC Cody is moving towards the southwest of Kadavu.

Atalifo said the concern now is the associated rain bands which are expected to affect the Fiji group for the next few days.

“It’s expected to be slow-moving to the southwest of the Fiji group and then die further South in the coming days. We do not expect the TC to make any landfall in the Fiji group.”

Atalifo said the heavy rain warning remains in force for the group.

He added the flooding warning also remains in force.

This has been confirmed by the MInister of Commerce, Trade, Tourism and Transport Faiyaz Koya.

From today, failure to wear a mask or face-covering in the required setting will result in the spot fine of $250, businesses failing to maintain records or have QR codes available for a scan can be fined up to a thousand dollars.

Koya said the business and the official responsible will also get charged.

Failure to take temperature checks will incur a $250 fine for individuals and a $1, 000 fine will be imposed on business.

This has resulted to a lot of areas being flooded such as the entrance to nearby villages namely Lavusa, Vunayasi and Dratabu.

Parts of Nadi Town and the back road remain flooded.

Police officers have also been spotted in numbers to be patrolling the affected areas.

Meanwhile, Tropical Depression 03F can intensify into a category one Tropical Cyclone today as it continues to move south-southwest at about 20km/hr.

The incident happened at around 11am, today.

There are three evacuation centers – one in the North and two in the Western Division.

Currently 200 people are taking shelter at these centers and the NDMO expects this number to increase as more rain is in the forecast.

Fifteen roads are currently closed due to flooding, while 18 are restricted.

Tropical Depression 03F is expected to develop into a Cyclone in the next six to 12 hours.

The Tropical Disturbance TD03F will attain a category 1 cyclone status by midday today (local time) and will affect Fiji later today.

Bad weather associated with the weather system has already caused major flooding in parts of Fiji.

NDMO Director, Vasiti Soko said with the heavy rain warning and severe flood alert in place for most parts of Fiji, members of the public need to heed the advisories issued by authorities seriously to ensure their safety during such times.

She said flooding is one of the main areas of concerns.

Fiji Meteorological Services Acting Director, Terry Atalifo confirmed that the Tropical Disturbance has intensified further into a Tropical Depression.

He further said at midday today, TD03F was located about 515 kilometres west of Nadi.

TD03F is moving very slowly and is expected to move east-southeast at about 10 kilometres per hour.

Ministry of Health’s Permanent Secretary, James Fong said 254 cases were recorded in the Central Division, 103 cases were in the Western Division, six cases were reported in the Northern Division, and nine cases are in the Eastern Division.

224 new cases were recorded on Tuesday and 372 cases were recorded in the last 24 hours ending at 8 am yesterday.

The first Covid-19 death to report is of a 75-year-old man from Suva who died at his home last Friday.

Samples sequenced by the Ministry of Healtth and the Doherty Institute in Melbourne, were determined to be Omicron , the latest COVID-19 variant in circulation around the world.

The Ministry of Health’s Permanent Secretary, Doctor James Fong said Fiji has community transmission of both Omicron and Delta variants throughout the country.

He added that it explains the high number of cases recorded recently given the high transmissibility of the variant.

Health experts are warning it will become the dominant variant.