The Fijian parliament on Tuesday was forced to close as COVID-19 cases surge in the South Pacific country, overwhelming quarantine facilities and prompting calls for a nationwide lockdown.
After a staffer was found to be a close contact of a positive case, parliament speaker Epeli Nailatikau said that the legislative buildings in the capital, Suva, were shut.
“As a precautionary measure and out of an abundance of caution, the parliamentary precincts and offices will be closed with immediate effect,” he said in a statement.
Fiji went a full year without recording any community cases until April, when a second wave of infections hit.