As the international visitors start arriving in the country from today, Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says as the planes arrive, a lot of people have returned to work and there is a real buzz of activity.
Speaking in Nadi, Sayed-Khaiyum says this has affected many people in a positive manner.
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He says the Government saw the big picture, they had a strategy in place, they had a path they wanted to follow and the decisive leadership provided by the Prime Minister and the entire team, we have been able to achieve where we are today.
Sayed-Khaiyum also says the rest of the world is also opening up and we need to ensure we remain the destination of choice.
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He also says they have presented a bill in parliament to ensure that we become price sensitive in things like the COVID testing space because people will also measure their trip cost based on the cost of the PCR and rapid tests.
Sayed-Khaiyum also calls on those that are not vaccinated to get vaccinated. Fiji Airways Managing Director and CEO Andre Viljoen says the airline and the nation including the Government has been working hard since March last year to prepare for this moment.
Viljoen says the safety of their customers and staff will always be their highest priority.
He says they also have an extra measure at the airport where all travellers have to fill a declaration form to declare where they have been in the past 14 days.
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Viljoen says their entire workforce is fully vaccinated, their new Travel Ready program is dedicated to medical safety and wellness, and Fiji Airways is the only airline in the Australia-Pacific region to achieve a Skytrax 5-Star Covid Safety rating as well as the highest Hospital Grade ‘Diamond’ certification by APEX Health and Safety.
Fiji Airways says Fiji already has multiple layers of health and safety protection protocols from COVID-19 and its potential variants in its border-reopening framework which was designed to even deal with situations like this.
It says Fiji Airways is committed to keeping travellers, citizens and staff safe as Fiji reopens its borders for tourists from travel partner countries.
He also says they are getting full flights from today.
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With Fiji’s borders opening to international tourists today, the Ministry of Health anticipates their testing numbers to increase from international repatriates and travellers including Fijians visiting families and friends.
Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong says with increasing COVID-19 cases in the European region, and the emergence of the new variant of concern, Omicron, noted to have several mutations, is a cause for concern.
Doctor Fong says their border health measures and surveillance will need to be strengthened and maintained.
He confirms the weekly testing numbers of over 4,000 are still above the WHO recommended rate of 4 tests per 1,000 population per week (or approximately 3,500 tests per week) and they anticipate continued surveillance and testing in the communities and maritime islands to monitor and detect cases for early intervention.
