2 deaths recorded for COVID-19 bringing the total deaths to 17

241 new COVID-19 cases have been announced – 17 new cases are from Fiji Times, Food City Suva, Matanisivoro Settlement, National Kidney Centre in Nadera, Suva City Council and Tamavua-i-Wai.

There are 2 deaths confirmed as a result of COVID-19 which brings the total deaths to 17 in Fiji, with 15 of these deaths during the outbreak that started in April this year.

A 50-year-old man from Newtown is believed to have died at home and was declared dead on arrival by doctors at the Valelevu Health Centre.

He was reported to be in severe respiratory distress before death.

Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong says he was swabbed at the health centre, and tested positive.

His death has been classified as a COVID-19 death by the doctors at the health centre.

He had received the first dose of the vaccine early this month.

The man was not fully vaccinated.

Doctor Fong says a death previously reported as under investigation has now been classified as a COVID-19 death by doctors.

This is a 62-year-old man from Grantham Road who presented to the FEMAT Field Hospital in respiratory distress and died on the same day.

He had been having respiratory symptoms, including shortness of breath, for at least a week before presenting to FEMAT.

Doctor Fong says according to protocol he was swabbed and tested positive for COVID-19.

He was not vaccinated.

There are currently 21 COVID-19 patients with severe illness admitted at CWM Hospital.

He also says 5 new cases are prison officers from Suva at the Fiji Sugar Corporation Compound in Rakiraki.

They were undergoing 14 days quarantine at the FSC compound as part of the essential movement from the red zone to the green zone when they tested positive.

The remaining cases are from the Lami-Suva-Nausori Containment Zone.

Doctor Fong says the remaining cases are contacts of known cases, cases that were seen in screening clinics and were swabbed, and cases under investigation to determine possible sources of transmission.

A full breakdown of areas of interest has been published online on the Ministry’s COVID-19 dashboard.

You can check out the dashboard link on our website, fijivillage.

1 death is still under investigation to determine if it was caused by COVID-19.

The Ministry has also recorded 8 COVID-19 positive patients that died from pre-existing non-COVID-19 related illnesses that they had been receiving treatment for at the CWM Hospital.

There have been 26 new recoveries reported since the last update, which means that there are now 3027 active cases in isolation.

There have been 3726 cases during the outbreak that started in April 2021.

Fiji has recorded a total of 3832 cases since the first case was reported in March 2020, with 779 recoveries.

150,878 samples have been tested since this outbreak started in April 2021, with 193,739 tested since testing began in early 2020.

The national 7-day average daily test positivity is 7.9% and continues on an upward trend.

Doctor Fong says the 7-day average of new cases per day has increased to 250 cases per day or 283 cases per million population per day.

He says all the evidence is that there is widespread community transmission in the Lami-Suva-Nausori Containment Zone.

Doctor Fong says this means the outbreak is not confined to specific areas and everyone should take the necessary precautions and prevent themselves and their loved ones from getting infected.

There are clusters of active cases in Naitasiri and one cluster in Korovou.

There continue to be cases reported in Nadi, but so far they are from within the containment zone in the Nawajikuma, Nawakalevu, and Tramline containment area.

In Lautoka, there are 3 active cases currently, as announced previously.

There are 5 cases contained in quarantine at the Ra FSC compound as part of the essential movement from red to green zones.

Doctor Fong says to date, this outbreak appears contained to Viti Levu, with the Northern and Eastern divisions yet to detect a case.