Coronavirus

His comments on the subject, made during a call with reporters on World Bank economic forecasts, came as WTO negotiations over the proposed waiver resumed in Geneva.

Asked whether he backs a WTO vaccine IP waiver, which India, South Africa and other emerging market countries argue is needed to expand vaccine access, Malpass said: "We don't support that, for the reason that it would run the risk of reducing the innovation and the R&D in that sector."

However, the Health Ministry has clarified that the death is not COVID-related and is due to serious medical illness.

This is the second COVID-19 patient to have died from non-COVID-related causes.

The death of the first patient, a 38-year-old woman was confirmed over the weekend.

She was already ill due to other serious medical conditions for which she had been admitted to the hospital.

Photo Caption: CWM Hospital, Suva.           Source: FILE Photo

Fiji’s Parliament has passed the Public Health Amendment Bill 2021 which paves the way for police officers to impose “on-the-spot” payment of fines for people not wearing masks and businesses not adhering to COVID safe measures

It will now bring in fines for offences which may include the failure to wear an appropriate face covering or present the careFIJI mobile application on entering business premises, or the failure to comply with mandatory curfews, physical distancing requirements and capacity restrictions for gatherings, events, public service vehicles and businesses.

It takes the state's current outbreak to about 80.

The results were detected among 24,265 tests received on Sunday, and there were 17,719 vaccine doses administered at state-run sites.

Victoria's Deputy Chief Health Officer Allen Cheng yesterday said the state was running "neck and neck" with the outbreak when it came to managing the "downstream" risks of positive cases emerging from already identified exposure sites and chains of transmission.

The alert level remains unchanged and the risk to public remains low, the government said.

The man who arrived in Auckland from Egypt on May 5, 2021, and tested positive on his Day 0 test when in managed isolation (MIQ) in Auckland, according to a statement issued by Te Marae Ora Ministry of Health.

The Health Ministry said the man was asymptomatic and his test was deemed a historic case. As of Saturday evening, he remains asymptomatic.

According to the Ministry, a historical case means such cases are no longer infectious.

The assurance comes amid an escalating number of cases on the main island, Viti Levu, with clusters in both hospitals and the Navy.

Health secretary James Fong said the frontline public health response teams were conducting surveillance and containment efforts in the communities.

The ministry screened and tested its frontline personnel for their safety and the public's safety because "they come into contact with persons who have been exposed to the virus", Fong said.

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.

All the new cases are from existing clusters including seven from the Queen Elizabeth Barracks in Nabua, three from the CWM Hospital in Suva and three from the Nawaka, Nadi cluster.

Fourteen patients have recovered, which means there are now 323 active cases. There have been 438 cases since this outbreak started in April 2021.

Fiji has had 508 cases in total since the first case was reported in March 2020, with 181 recoveries and 4 deaths.

Officials say people have been catching the virus from "fleeting" encounters in a Melbourne outbreak of the B.1.617.1 strain, now named the Kappa variant by the World Health Organization.

Australia's second most-populous state will now be locked down until 10 June.

It's the fourth shutdown endured by residents so far in the pandemic.

Six new local cases were reported on Wednesday, taking the cluster to 60.

"I know this is not the news that everybody wants to hear but given the cases we have... the government had no choice," said Acting Premier James Merlino.

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.