A 4-month old baby is among the 3 COVID-19 deaths that were recorded between 30th August to 7th September.
All three deaths were from the Central Division.
The Permanent Secretary for Health Dr James Fong says the 4-month old baby presented to a health centre in mild respiratory distress on 1st September.
Dr Fong says he was medically assessed and stabilized by the attending medical officer and was then transferred to the CWM Hospital for specialist care.
He further says as per protocol upon admission, he was tested for COVID-19 and was noted to be positive.
Dr Fong adds his mother reported that he had a cough and was noted to be irritable two days prior to their presentation and developed a fever on the night prior to his presentation.
Dr Fong says sadly, he died five days after admission on 6th September.
The second COVID-19 death is a 66-year-old man from Naitasiri who died at home on 7th September. He received the first dose of the vaccine in mid-June. He did not receive the second dose of the vaccine. This means that he was not fully vaccinated.
The third COVID-19 death is a 76-year-old man from Naitasiri. He presented to the Vunidawa Hospital in severe respiratory distress and passed away on 30th August. He received the first dose of the vaccine in early-July. He did not receive the second dose of the vaccine. This means that he was not fully vaccinated.
There have been 8 more deaths of COVID-19 positive patients. However, these deaths have been classified as non-COVID deaths by their doctors. The doctors have determined that these deaths were caused by a serious pre-existing medical condition and not COVID-19.
There have now been 528 deaths due to COVID-19 in Fiji, with 526 of these deaths during the outbreak that started in April this year.
The 7 day rolling average for COVID-19 deaths per day in the Central Division is 1 and in the Western Division is 3.
Fiji has also recorded 353 COVID-19 positive patients who died from the serious medical conditions that they had before they contracted COVID-19; these are not classified as COVID-19 deaths.
240 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed for the 24 hour period that ended at 8am yesterday with 159 cases on Kadavu, 49 cases from the Western Division, 32 from the Central Division and 4 new cases on Malolo Island.
All these individuals have been isolated.
The Permanent Secretary for Health Dr James Fong says there are now 13,597 active cases.
2,516 active cases are in the Central Division, 10,793 active cases in the Western Division, 4 active cases in the Northern Division (Macuata) and 284 active cases in Kadavu
He says there have been 48,323 cases during the outbreak that started in April 2021. We have recorded a total of 48,393 cases in Fiji since the first case was reported in March 2020, with 33,915 recoveries.
Dr Fong says there are currently 169 COVID-19 patients admitted in hospital. 80 patients are admitted at the Lautoka Hospital, 12 patients are admitted at the FEMAT field hospital, and 77 are admitted at CWM hospital, St Giles, and Makoi.
20 patients are considered to be in severe condition, and 7 are in critical condition.
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