rld, and in so doing dropping all mandatory quarantine requirements on arrival, variants of the highly contagious Omicron are infecting the populations of neighboring Fiji and Australia.
Fiji recorded 228 new COVID-19 cases since Tuesday, with 74 cases reported in the Central Division, 122 cases in the Western Division and 32 cases in the Northern Division.
Fiji’s Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong, says that the positivity rate is an indication of widespread community transmission.
Australia also reported one of its highest daily death tolls from COVID-19 on Thursday while hospital admissions hovered near record levels, as authorities struggle to get ahead of highly contagious Omicron variants.
Omicron started off as three subvariants (that is, a group of viruses from the same parent virus), all appearing in late November 2021 in South Africa: BA.1, BA.2, and BA.3.
The highly contagious Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5 are said to be responsible for the surge in new COVID-19 cases globally. Both variants were first detected in South Africa in early January to mid-February 2022. Both appear to be offshoots of BA.2, sharing many identical mutations. They also have many additional mutations likely to impact transmission.
The second wave, which started in Honiara in mid-April 2022, spread quickly throughout the population because of the public’s lax attitude towards COVID-19 health and safety measures. The second wave of COVID-19 in Honiara was said to be driven by Omicron BA.2. Based on experience elsewhere, it is very possible for sub-variants such as the BA.4 and the BA.5 to enter the country, especially after restrictions were dropped.
While negative tests are still being required from incoming travelers, quarantine requirements have been dropped, exposing the general population to possible re-infection, especially by a new sub-variant such as the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5.
Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 appear to escape antibody responses among both people who had previous COVID-19 infection and those who have been fully vaccinated and boosted, according to new data from researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, of Harvard Medical School.
With reports from Reuters, CNN and RNZ and Solomon Times Online.
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
