"In the last few days parents from throughout the country have called him [Prasad] expressing their fear about sending their children to school when the third wave of Covid-19 is raging in the community...Whatever happens, this government will bear the wrath of people at the ballot booths in the elections. They will not forget how they and their children were treated to satisfy the egos of the current government’s leadership”
BIMAN PRASAD
Fijileaks: We suggest YOU allay their fears rather than Play Politics.
In 1987 and 2000, Indo-Fijian parents had to hide their children under the beds from ethno-Fijian i-taukei nationalists Rabuka and Speight. They were hiding their school children from Coupists and NOT Covid. Many countries, including the United Kingdom, have opened their schools but will not hesitate to shut them if Covid gets out of control. More than a third of schools in England have at least one in 10 teachers absent due to Covid reasons. It is time both PARENTS and POLITICIANS in Fiji displayed responsibility. Also, unvaccinated pupils and those self-isolating after being diagnosed or identified as contacts, must continue to receive the proper education, either remotely or on a hybrid basis. Cheap politics is COVID.
 Government’s decision to risk the lives of students is Negligence The decision by Government to ignore sound advice and risk unvaccinated students even as young as four to five years old to Covid-19 from Monday is sheer negligence, said National Federation Party Leader Professor Biman Prasad. Professor Prasad in the last few days parents from throughout the country have called him expressing their fear about sending their children to school when the third wave of Covid-19 is raging in the community. “A month ago, we called on government to reveal its plan of action should a third wave of the pandemic sweep across the nation”. “This government, as usual, kept quiet. Instead, it intensely and solely focused on tourism, once again putting all its eggs in one basket”. | FOCUS ON COALITION AND NOT ON COVID, BIMAN PRASAD  |
The NFP Leader also asked why the Prime Minister and the Attorney-General are silent when a crisis is developing right before their eyes.
“The silence of the PM and AG is deafening. Is this deliberate? Are they waiting for the crisis to worsen before they step in and portray themselves as saviors?
“Will someone be sacrificed in a bid to save the image of a heartless government and its two-man rule?”
“Because no Government with compassion and care for the people would put the lives of its citizens at risk, despite knowing fully well that the public health and medical facilities and care is incapable of handling a massive health crisis.
“In this case we are talking about children in primary school and in early childhood education centres. Surely, Government is not intellectually impaired so as not to see and hear what’s going around”.
“But it seems insanity, arising out of sickening arrogance, has gripped all facets of governance. One only has to read how the Education Minister and her Permanent Secretary are trying to justify negligence”.
“The Education Minister has embraced a UNESCO report to justify why face-to-face learning doesn’t drive community transmission. She is brandishing a WHO report to claim children contracting Covid-19 have milder systems”.
“Not to be outdone, her permanent secretary says schools should install more fans and open doors and windows of classrooms to prevent the spread of Covid-19 if social distancing is not possible”.
“Both deliberately ignore the fact that over 99% of our schools are community run institutions or owned by religious and cultural organisations”.
“For the last two years, many schools have not received the full grants and the ministry is making it difficult for the management to vire funds from one allocation to another. The schools cannot fundraise except with the permission of the ministry to even maintain existing facilities”.
“How does the ministry expect the school managements to facilitate additional installations?”
“Both the Minister and her permanent secretary should ask the Fiji First government to improve hospitals by at least removing grass growing on the walls (of CWMH) and giving the buildings a fresh coat of paint before barking orders at school management”.
“Whatever happens, this government will bear the wrath of people at the ballot booths in the elections. They will not forget how they and their children were treated to satisfy the egos of the current government’s leadership”.
Professor Biman Prasad
Leader
“The silence of the PM and AG is deafening. Is this deliberate? Are they waiting for the crisis to worsen before they step in and portray themselves as saviors?
“Will someone be sacrificed in a bid to save the image of a heartless government and its two-man rule?”
“Because no Government with compassion and care for the people would put the lives of its citizens at risk, despite knowing fully well that the public health and medical facilities and care is incapable of handling a massive health crisis.
“In this case we are talking about children in primary school and in early childhood education centres. Surely, Government is not intellectually impaired so as not to see and hear what’s going around”.
“But it seems insanity, arising out of sickening arrogance, has gripped all facets of governance. One only has to read how the Education Minister and her Permanent Secretary are trying to justify negligence”.
“The Education Minister has embraced a UNESCO report to justify why face-to-face learning doesn’t drive community transmission. She is brandishing a WHO report to claim children contracting Covid-19 have milder systems”.
“Not to be outdone, her permanent secretary says schools should install more fans and open doors and windows of classrooms to prevent the spread of Covid-19 if social distancing is not possible”.
“Both deliberately ignore the fact that over 99% of our schools are community run institutions or owned by religious and cultural organisations”.
“For the last two years, many schools have not received the full grants and the ministry is making it difficult for the management to vire funds from one allocation to another. The schools cannot fundraise except with the permission of the ministry to even maintain existing facilities”.
“How does the ministry expect the school managements to facilitate additional installations?”
“Both the Minister and her permanent secretary should ask the Fiji First government to improve hospitals by at least removing grass growing on the walls (of CWMH) and giving the buildings a fresh coat of paint before barking orders at school management”.
“Whatever happens, this government will bear the wrath of people at the ballot booths in the elections. They will not forget how they and their children were treated to satisfy the egos of the current government’s leadership”.
Professor Biman Prasad
Leader
Source: Fijivillage News
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The cabinet on Wednesday decided to reopen all schools on Monday mandating testing twice a week and tightened other measures in a bid to reign in the spread of the coronavirus, which seems to be out of control with thousands of infections recorded daily.
“The cabinet’s message is crystal clear. We must trust science and support the collective work,” Health Minister Michalis Hadjipantelas said in a public address. “There is no other way.”
The cabinet decided to reopen schools as planned, with pupils, teachers, and administrative staff returning on Monday with mandatory 48-hour negative tests.
From then on, all pupils must undergo mandatory testing twice a week, including in primary schools where testing was weekly.
The government has also cut the number of allowed persons in homes from 20 to 10, starting Thursday, not including children up to 12-years-old.
From Monday onwards, hospitality and other venues can only host a maximum 200 people, in line with current health protocols concerning the number of persons per square metre.
No dancing is allowed and the maximum number of people per table has been set to eight.
From Thursday, places of worship can only allow in a maximum 200 people, provided existing protocols on area allow it.
The ministry recommended avoiding the use of cloth masks.
Also Thursday, SafePasses must be matched to the holders through id verification while close contacts must be tested on the third and fifth day of contact irrespective of vaccination record. The same applies to people who went through Covid previously.
The number of staff working from home where applicable has been raised to 50 per cent, starting Monday. Also Monday, stay at hotels and other tourist facilities will only be allowed to people who have either completed their Covid vaccination or started it but still had to wait for the necessary time period to elapse for the second or third dose.
An additional set of five self-tests will be given to fully vaccinated people 12 and above.
A night curfew has also been placed on the residents of elderly homes and other such facilities. This comes into effect on Thursday.
From Thursday onwards, people who arrive in the Republic and refuse to undergo PCR test will be placed in state quarantine for 14 days. They will be released on the seventh day provided they undergo PCR testing at own cost.
People travelling to Cyprus aged 12 and above must possess a negative PCR test conducted no more than 72 hours before departure.
The cabinet has also lifted mandatory state quarantine for passengers coming from South Africa, Namibia, Lesoto, Esouatini, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malaoui, and Botswana.
It also decided to extend until the end of the month, other measures currently in place.
Hadjipantelas said scientists could not beat the virus all by themselves.
“They have done their duty providing humanity with the necessary weapons but only the people, ordinary citizens can beat the pandemic by following the instructions of the scientific and medical community,” the minister said.
He said the pandemic could only be beaten using vaccines and faithful adherence to protective measures.
“Five fellow humans died from Covid-19 yesterday (Tuesday), two of whom at a young age,” Hadjipantelas added. “We will never tire of saying and emphasizing that health is the most valuable commodity, but life itself is the supreme good. Human life cannot be negotiable and that is why we will continue the effort on all levels.”
Daily infections have skyrocketed in recent days, apparently as the Omicron variant of the virus is taking over from Delta.
Thousands have been infected since Christmas while thousands more were considered close contacts and were forced to isolate. The contact tracing system has been overwhelmed, forcing the authorities to mandate online contact reporting in a bid to catch up.
Over 16,000 cases were recorded between December 25 and December 31 alone with up to sixfold increases among younger ages.
Wednesday saw a new record in cases with 5,457, together with five deaths.
The number of lives claimed by the virus since the start of the pandemic has reached 646 –410 were men and 236 women. The average age is 76.
The number of recorded infections at the same time was 183,178 in a population of about a million.
The Turkish Cypriot breakaway state in the north has so far reported 37,651 cases and 142 deaths. It also appears to be in the process of being overrun by Omicron.
The relatively low number of hospitalisations compared with the cases shows that Omicron is ‘milder’ than Delta but experts warned that the massive number of infections could still mean more people needing hospital care and possibly overwhelming the health system.
“The cabinet’s message is crystal clear. We must trust science and support the collective work,” Health Minister Michalis Hadjipantelas said in a public address. “There is no other way.”
The cabinet decided to reopen schools as planned, with pupils, teachers, and administrative staff returning on Monday with mandatory 48-hour negative tests.
From then on, all pupils must undergo mandatory testing twice a week, including in primary schools where testing was weekly.
The government has also cut the number of allowed persons in homes from 20 to 10, starting Thursday, not including children up to 12-years-old.
From Monday onwards, hospitality and other venues can only host a maximum 200 people, in line with current health protocols concerning the number of persons per square metre.
No dancing is allowed and the maximum number of people per table has been set to eight.
From Thursday, places of worship can only allow in a maximum 200 people, provided existing protocols on area allow it.
The ministry recommended avoiding the use of cloth masks.
Also Thursday, SafePasses must be matched to the holders through id verification while close contacts must be tested on the third and fifth day of contact irrespective of vaccination record. The same applies to people who went through Covid previously.
The number of staff working from home where applicable has been raised to 50 per cent, starting Monday. Also Monday, stay at hotels and other tourist facilities will only be allowed to people who have either completed their Covid vaccination or started it but still had to wait for the necessary time period to elapse for the second or third dose.
An additional set of five self-tests will be given to fully vaccinated people 12 and above.
A night curfew has also been placed on the residents of elderly homes and other such facilities. This comes into effect on Thursday.
From Thursday onwards, people who arrive in the Republic and refuse to undergo PCR test will be placed in state quarantine for 14 days. They will be released on the seventh day provided they undergo PCR testing at own cost.
People travelling to Cyprus aged 12 and above must possess a negative PCR test conducted no more than 72 hours before departure.
The cabinet has also lifted mandatory state quarantine for passengers coming from South Africa, Namibia, Lesoto, Esouatini, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malaoui, and Botswana.
It also decided to extend until the end of the month, other measures currently in place.
Hadjipantelas said scientists could not beat the virus all by themselves.
“They have done their duty providing humanity with the necessary weapons but only the people, ordinary citizens can beat the pandemic by following the instructions of the scientific and medical community,” the minister said.
He said the pandemic could only be beaten using vaccines and faithful adherence to protective measures.
“Five fellow humans died from Covid-19 yesterday (Tuesday), two of whom at a young age,” Hadjipantelas added. “We will never tire of saying and emphasizing that health is the most valuable commodity, but life itself is the supreme good. Human life cannot be negotiable and that is why we will continue the effort on all levels.”
Daily infections have skyrocketed in recent days, apparently as the Omicron variant of the virus is taking over from Delta.
Thousands have been infected since Christmas while thousands more were considered close contacts and were forced to isolate. The contact tracing system has been overwhelmed, forcing the authorities to mandate online contact reporting in a bid to catch up.
Over 16,000 cases were recorded between December 25 and December 31 alone with up to sixfold increases among younger ages.
Wednesday saw a new record in cases with 5,457, together with five deaths.
The number of lives claimed by the virus since the start of the pandemic has reached 646 –410 were men and 236 women. The average age is 76.
The number of recorded infections at the same time was 183,178 in a population of about a million.
The Turkish Cypriot breakaway state in the north has so far reported 37,651 cases and 142 deaths. It also appears to be in the process of being overrun by Omicron.
The relatively low number of hospitalisations compared with the cases shows that Omicron is ‘milder’ than Delta but experts warned that the massive number of infections could still mean more people needing hospital care and possibly overwhelming the health system.
