COVID-19 Infections Surge in Fiji

SYDNEY - Fiji’s coronavirus crisis is worsening as reports of infections continue to soar in the South Pacific nation. The latest wave is occurring even though other parts of the Pacific have been spared the most severe impacts of the disease. 

Although a small number of infections were detected early in the pandemic, Fiji went a year without recording any community transmission of COVID-19 until April 2021.   But that is changing now as cases of the highly transmissible delta variant have been rising sharply after a Fijian soldier working at a quarantine facility reportedly contracted the delta variant of the virus from a traveler who had returned from India.  On Tuesday, 715 new COVID-19 infections and 11 deaths were recorded in Fiji following a new daily record of 1,285 cases on Monday, according to Fiji's Ministry of Health and Medical Services (MOHMS).