SUVA, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- Fiji's Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama praised Fijian healthcare workers for keeping the island nation COVID-contained on Wednesday.
According to a government statement, Bainimarama said in Nadi, Fiji's third largest city, that most people on earth live under constant threat of infection from the deadly coronavirus, with global coronavirus infections surpassing 40 million.
He said Fiji's success in dealing with COVID-19 is owed to the nation's nurses, doctors, lab technicians and the members of its disciplined forces.
He pointed out that this pandemic is the most sudden and devastating global event in 100 years, and every nation was caught on their heels. But in those crucial early months, Fiji was one of the few which did everything right by achieving the world's most remarkable record at containing the virus.
"Some countries are COVID-free because they shut their borders completely -- even to their own people -- and never had the coronavirus. But Fiji actually dealt with an outbreak and, together, we beat it. Our testing was fast, early, and effective, achieving one of the world's lowest positivity rates. Fiji systematically identified and quarantined every known contact of every single case in the country and broke every chain of transmission," he said.
The prime minister assured the frontline workers that it does not go unnoticed, and it will not be forgotten.
As for the new COVID-19 case confirmed on Wednesday, he said it is a new border quarantine case of the coronavirus in a man who arrived in Fiji from India earlier this month.
The man is now in stable condition in a hospital in Lautoka, Fiji's second largest city.
Fiji had a total number of 32 COVID-19 cases since March 19 when the island nation confirmed its first COVID-19 case. Two of them have died and the rest of them have fully recovered.
Currently, Fiji still maintains a strict travel restriction for foreign visitors as it also keeps a nationwide curfew effective from March 30. Enditem
