5 deaths of COVID-19 positive patients have been confirmed in the 24-hour reporting period that ended at 8am yesterday however 3 cases are under investigation, 1 death has been classified as a COVID-19 death and 1 death has been classified as death from other medical causes. 404 new COVID-19 cases have been recorded as at 8am today.
Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong says the new death from COVID-19 reported today is a 72 year old woman from Kinoya who presented to the FEMAT Field Hospital in severe respiratory distress.
She had been sick at home with cough, fever and shortness of breath for at least 5 days before coming to the hospital. She died at the hospital that same day. She was not vaccinated.
Doctor Fong says there have now been 25 deaths due to COVID-19 in Fiji, with 23 of these deaths during the outbreak that started in April this year.
Fiji has also recorded 12 COVID-19 positive patients who died from conditions that they had before they contracted COVID-19. Doctor Fong says the new 404 cases are mainly from the Central and Western Divisions.
There are two cases that have been identified at the Malau Quarantine Facility.
These two cases are noted to be repatriates from the Central Division and are in quarantine.
A full breakdown of areas of interest has been published online on the Ministry’s COVID-19 dashboard. You can check out the link on our website, fijivillage.
Doctor Fong says there have been 52 new recoveries reported since the last update, which means that there are now 4,243 active cases in isolation.
There have been 5183 cases during the outbreak that started in April 2021.
Fiji has recorded a total of 5253 cases since the first case was reported in March 2020, with 970 recoveries.
5649 individuals were screened and 1267 were swabbed at the stationary screening clinics in the last 24 hours, bringing the cumulative total to 234,365 individuals screened and 32,267 swabbed to date.
163,261 samples have been tested since this outbreak started in April 2021, with 206,122 tested since testing began in early 2020.
The national 7-day average daily test positivity is 9.5 percent and continues on an upward trend.
Doctor Fong says the 7-day average of new cases per day has increased to 313 cases per day or 336 cases per million population per day.
He says there has also been a notable increase in positive patients with severe disease, as well as an increase in deaths.
Doctor Fong says the steady increase in average daily case numbers in combination with other indicators suggest higher daily numbers of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths in the coming weeks, particularly in the Central and Western divisions.
Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong says 309,293 adults in Fiji have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, AstraZeneca and 49,876 Fijians have received their second doses.
Doctor Fong says this means that 53 percent of the target population has received at least one dose and 8.5 percent are now fully vaccinated nationwide.
A total of 5,243 first doses and 1,141 second doses of the vaccine were administered nationally in the last 24 hours.
You can check the Ministry’s vaccine dashboard to find real-time data on first-dose and second-dose numbers at the national, divisional and sub-divisional levels. You can check out the link on our website, fijivillage.
Meanwhile the Ministry of Health repeats its advice that Fijians take steps to protect themselves until an adequate number of people are protected through vaccination and to be particularly vigilant in protecting people who are most vulnerable to severe infection, including the elderly, people with weakened or compromised immune systems, and people suffering from other serious conditions. Be alert to the symptoms, which include runny nose, nasal congestion, cough, sore throat, fever, headache, body ache, or diarrhoea.
More severe symptoms, which could indicate a medical emergency, include difficulty breathing, persistent pain or pressure in the chest, severe headache for a few days, new confusion, inability to wake or stay awake; and pale, gray, or blue-coloured skin, lips or nail beds.
If you have any of these symptoms, mild or severe, please go immediately to a nearby testing facility for evaluation.
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