The Sawani border in Fiji's Naitasiri Highlands on the main island of Viti Levu has been closed for decontamination.
.. Photo: Fiji govt
The Government said the public is being advised that all activities conducted at the border will be suspended until further notice.
A six-month-old infant from Naitasiri was among 11 people who died from Covid-19 last weekend.
The Sawani border is one of the main access routes for villagers living in Nausori and nearby areas including the Naitasiri Province.
With a population of 177,678 people Naitasiri is the country's second most-populous province.
Those who need to access essential services are advised to use the Sawani Qiolevu road border instead.
The Health Ministry said operations at the border will remain closed until the end of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Inter-island travel suspended
Meanwhile, inter-island travel for villagers within the Nacula District in the Yasawa Group has been indefinitely suspended.
This came after the first Covid-19 death at Somosomo Village on Naviti Island was recorded by the ministry at the weekend.
Leaders from several villages and two settlements on Naviti have been informed of the new restrictions.
One village elder told local media "the great things about our village headmen is they have been very strict with our Covid-safe protocols.
Naviti Island in the Yasawa Group. Photo: Facebook/Naviti Island
He said since April, they have been monitoring people's movements, especially to the mainland.
"Now that we have our first Covid death, we are going to implement even more strict measures to ensure that our district is safe.
"So, for now, we are stopping all inter-island travel and we are not allowing people to travel to Naviti."
According to Health Secretary Dr James Fong, a 94-year-old woman from Somosomo Village passed away at home on 23 August.
He said investigations are underway into how she became infected.
He said the ministry's response team in the West is also conducting contact tracing to identify more cases on the island.
Meanwhile, Fiji has fully vaccinated nearly 300,000 people against Covid-19.
As of 27 August, 44.9 percent of the target population have received two doses nation-wide.
Dr Fong said 558,414 adults had received their first dose of the vaccine and 263,243 have received both jabs.
"This means that 95.2 percent of the target population have received at least one dose and 44.9 per cent are now fully vaccinated nation-wide," he said.
"We are currently doing a mop-up exercise of our first dose campaign, which will allow us to specifically target communities with low coverage, and subsequently also correct and update the total eligible population for our current vaccination program."
Fiji now has 19,300 active cases in isolation and the death toll is at 479.
