Fiji's Covid-19 crisis is rapidly spiralling out of control with between 500 and 900 new cases every day.
Special containers have been brought into the morgue to store bodies as the island nation prepares for a spike in deaths.
Many have already lost loved ones. 1 NEWS’ Pacific correspondent Babara Dreaver spoke to one man reeling from the death of his father.
Roshmam Khan says he feels like he's drowning in grief after his dad died of Covid-19 in Fiji on Monday.
The Aucklander is struggling being a world away and unable to support his mum, who is Covid-19 positive and mourning alone in her Suva home.
“People who have lost their relatives will feel the pain because its hard, I lost my dad - my dad was a great person…a great person,” Khan says.
His parents had isolated themselves since the second outbreak and decided to stagger their Covid-19 vaccinations so they could look after each other in case of potential side effects.
His mother got the jab first, but it was at the vaccination centre she contracted the virus and then passed it to his dad.
After developing symptoms and getting tested at a medical centre, it took four to five days to hear the result was positive.
When the pair were both sick they called the toll-free help line.
“Dad asked the question ‘what do we do now?’ - there was no help, no means of providing with food... they had to lock themselves in the house for two weeks with no contact from anyone,” Khan says.
When his dad started to have trouble breathing they called an ambulance, continuously over eight hours but no one came.
A cousin risked his life and drove Khan's dad’s lifeless body to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.
“It’s hard...you feel helpless when you are far away,” Khan says.
Fiji's health system is struggling under the weight of the virus.
At the morgue two containers have been put in place which can fit 50 bodies each in them.
“We are preparing for increased numbers of seriously ill Covid-19 patients,” says Dr Wayne Morriss.
“Tragically we think there will be more deaths, but what’s important is for us to make sure the systems are good as they can be,” he says.
The vaccination drive is proving successful – 60 per cent of the target population has received at least one jab.
But it's too late for Khan's parents.
“Will someone ever stand up and say this is where we failed? No it’s just another case and that’s it - file closed, put in the cupboard, it’s just another number...but that another number is my dad,” Khan says.
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