Two Fijian citizens who had travelled back into Fiji from Nigeria on November 25, 2021 have tested positive of the Omicron variant.
This was confirmed by the Ministry of Health and Medical Services permanent secretary, Dr James Fong who says last week travelers who had arrived from an African state and were undergoing quarantine in a border quarantine facility had tested positive for COVID-19.
Dr Fong said their samples had been sent to the reference laboratory in Australia for urgent genomic sequencing and the results for the two travelers have been received and are confirmed positive for the Omicron variant.
“The two travelers are Fijian citizens who had traveled back into Fiji from Nigeria, arriving on Fiji Airways flight FJ1392 from Hong Kong on November 25th – the day the discovery of the Omicron variant was announced internationally,” Dr Fong said.
“Both travelers tested negative for COVID-19 before departure from Fiji and before they left Nigeria,” he said.
“They entered a government-designated border quarantine facility immediately upon arrival into Fiji, tested positive while in quarantine, currently have no symptoms, and were fully vaccinated.
“With the exception of four passengers, all those on the flight were from non-travel partner countries, and therefore entered a border quarantine facility upon arrival to undergo the full quarantine protocol of 10 days.
“That has since been extended to 14 days.
“The four passengers on the flight who were from a travel partner country have tested negative.
“The Fiji Airways crew and accompanying passengers from FJ 1392 have tested negative at least twice.”
