MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th November, 2019) The first suspected measles case was recorded in Fiji despite preventive measures taken earlier, Health Minister Ifereimi Waqainabete said on Tuesday.
On Sunday, national media reported that the Ministry of Health of Fiji prevented the national futsal team from returning home after its match against the Kingdom of Tonga, which is currently facing an outbreak of measles.
"We had former Fiji Citizen coming through to Fiji and on arrival, she was noted to have symptoms and signs of measles. Together with her and the family appropriate steps were taken to ensure that this was not spread and so far we've kept it at that," Waqainabete said, as quoted by the FBC news media outlet.
The minster pointed out that the Health Ministry was closely following the situation around the outbreak of measles in the Oceania region as well as taking measures to prevent the disease from spreading in Fiji.
"We're trying as much as possible not to have a measles outbreak in Fiji as we've been seeing the effects of the disease that's happening in other countries in the Pacific," Waqainabete added.
The measles outbreak started in New Zealand and Samoa in February, and later hit the Kingdom of Tonga after the Tongan rugby players returned home from New Zealand. According to the government of the Kingdom of Tonga, 107 confirmed and suspected cases were identified as of October 28, while in New Zealand 1,989 people caught the diseases as of Monday.
