There are 11 new COVID-19 deaths from 31st July to 4th August while 1187 new cases have been confirmed.
Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong says 9 of the deaths were in the Central Division and 2 deaths were from the Western Division.
The first COVID-19 death is a 65-year-old man from Nasinu who died at home on 3rd August. He was not vaccinated.
The second death is a 75-year-old man from Suva who died at home on 2nd August. He was not vaccinated.
Doctor Fong says the third COVID-19 death is a 68-year-old woman from Kinoya who died at home on 31st July. She was not vaccinated.
The fourth death is a 78-year-old woman from Tailevu. She presented to a medical facility in severe respiratory distress. Her condition worsened at the medical facility and she died on the same day on 3rd August. She was not vaccinated.
The fifth COVID-19 death is a 71-year-old man from Tailevu who died at home on 31st July. He was not vaccinated.
Doctor Fong says the sixth death is a 50-year-old woman from Lautoka. She was declared dead on arrival by the attending medical officer at the Lautoka Hospital. This means that she died at home or on her way to the hospital. She was not vaccinated.
He says the seventh COVID-19 death is a 21-year-old man from Malake Island. He was declared dead on arrival by the attending medical officer at the Rakiraki Sub-Divisional Hospital. His family reported that he had shortness of breath one day prior to the presentation. He received his first dose of the vaccine in early May. He did not receive the second dose of the vaccine.
The eighth death is a 53-year-old woman from Nasinu. She presented to the CWM Hospital Emergency Department in severe respiratory distress. Her condition worsened at the hospital and she died one day after admission on 3rd August. She was not vaccinated.
The ninth death is a 44-year-old man from Suva who died at home on 4th August. He was not vaccinated.
Doctor Fong says the tenth COVID-19 death is a 60-year woman from Caubati who died at home on 4th August. She was not vaccinated.
The eleventh death is a 61-year woman from Makoi who died at home on 4th August. She was not vaccinated.
There have been 3 more deaths of COVID-19 positive patients.
However, their deaths have been classified as non-COVID deaths by their doctors. Doctors have determined that their deaths were caused by serious pre-existing medical conditions and not COVID-19.
With the newly reported deaths, there have now been 272 deaths due to COVID-19 in Fiji, with 270 of these deaths during the outbreak that started in April this year.
The 7 day rolling average of COVID-19 deaths per day is 7.
Fiji also has recorded 142 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.
Of the 1187 new cases, 387 cases are from the Western Division and 800 cases are from the Central Division.
A full breakdown of areas of interest will be published online tonight on the Ministry’s COVID-19 dashboard.
You can check out the link on our website, fijivillage.
There have been 1204 new recoveries reported since the last update, which means that there are now 22,658 active cases.
18,318 active cases are in the Central Division and 4,340 in the West.
There have been 33,850 cases during the outbreak that started in April 2021.
The country has recorded a total of 33,920 cases since the first case was reported in March 2020, with 10,848 recoveries.
People who have recovered recently from COVID-19 or presumed COVID-19 are eligible for vaccination once they have completed 14 days of isolation and recovered from acute illness.
Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong says the Ministry of Health, with assistance from the World Health Organisation, has reviewed the current advice that recommends a waiting period of 90 days before a person previously infected with COVID-19 should receive a COVID-19 vaccine.
He says this is based on updated evidence, and advice from WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization, an established practice in other countries.
Doctor Fong says the evidence is that the vaccine is safe for people with prior COVID-19 infection, including within 90 days of recent recovery.
He says while there is evidence that previous infection confers immunity for at least 6 months; immunity from the previous infection will have limited protection from other variants of concern.
He says they are also aware that the previous advice was partly promoted when vaccine supply was limited to ensure priority is given to those without any immunity.
The Permanent Secretary says given the high level of vaccine supply, the safety data, the need for broader protection, and the highly transmissible nature of the Delta variant, the Ministry of Health and Medical Services advice is that all those who have recovered recently from COVID-19 or presumed COVID-19 are eligible for vaccination once they have completed 14 days of isolation and recovered from acute illness.
494, 855 adults in Fiji have received their first dose of the COVID vaccine and 158,271 have received their second doses.
Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong says this means that 84.4 percent of the target population have received at least one dose and 27 percent are now fully vaccinated nationwide.
Fiji's 7-day average of new cases per day remains a major concern as it is 1103 cases per day or 1247 cases per million population per day.
Doctor Fong says the daily case numbers remain high, and daily test positivity remains high, indicating ongoing widespread community transmission in the Suva-Nausori containment zone.
Cases are also increasing in the West with evidence of community transmission in that division.
There are currently 254 COVID-19 patients admitted to the hospital in the Central Division.
79 patients are admitted at the FEMAT Field Hospital, and 175 were admitted at CWM Hospital, St Giles, and Makoi.
46 patients are considered to be in severe condition, and 10 are in critical condition.
Hospital admission data for the Western Division is awaiting an update.
283,885 samples have been tested since this outbreak started in April 2021, with 326,746 tested since testing began in March 2020.
Based on available data the national 7 day daily test average is 3388 tests per day or 3.8 tests per 1,000 population.
The national 7 day average daily test positivity is 32 percent.
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