Fully vaccinated travellers from select countries including New Zealand and Australia will be able to visit from November

Fiji says it is already experiencing a boom in demand after announcing this week that it would open up quarantine-free travel to visitors from select countries, almost two years after closing its borders due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Our website data is well up – we are seeing a real lift in interest. It is exciting, and we want to encourage people to come and spend Christmas and new year in Fiji,” Tourism Fiji chief executive Brent Hill said.

As Fiji battles to contain the coronavirus, pregnant women are having to give birth in isolation

For 34-year-old Jane, being told she had tested positive for Covid-19 just a few days before giving birth was an experience she would never forget.

“There were some minor complications during the final trimester of my pregnancy. On 18 July, I was taken to the Colonial War Memorial Hospital in Suva but I had to wait outside with other pregnant mothers who were about to deliver,” said Jane, not her real name.

Hospital closure comes as the Pacific country tries to contain a second wave of the virus with lockdowns

• See all our coronavirus coverage

Fiji has closed its second largest hospital amid fears that a patient who died of Covid-19 may have infected multiple staff members. The 53-year-old man was only the Pacific country’s third Covid-related death since the pandemic began.

More than 400 patients, doctors, nurses and other medical staff were being quarantined at Lautoka hospital as of Wednesday, after a doctor who had treated the man also tested positive for the coronavirus.