The Red Cross called for faster vaccine rollouts in vulnerable Pacific island nations as a record Covid-19 surge threatens to overload Fiji's health system.
Fiji's two largest hospitals have been converted into dedicated Covid-19 facilities, with cases doubling every nine days since a second wave began in April.
The situation has been a "serious wake-up call" showing the need for more urgency across the region, Red Cross Pacific chief Katie Greenwood said. "In the Pacific, it's a critical time to ramp up vaccinations...
we can't let our guards down," she said. Only about 1% of Fiji's 930,000 population has been fully vaccinated and government health chief James Fong said community unease about inoculations was putting a strain on hospitals.