Permanent Secretary for Health Dr James Fong says a 55-year-old fully vaccinated woman with underlying medical conditions passed away on the 28th of August after she went to the Nadi Hospital in severe respiratory distress on the same day.
Dr Fong says her family reported that she was feeling unwell with generalized weakness, a cough, shortness of breath and a reduced appetite two weeks prior to her presentation.
He says she received the first dose of the vaccine in late May and she received the second dose of the vaccine on the 23rd of July.
Dr Fong adds although she was fully vaccinated she had underlying medical conditions and background of poor general health.
He says these pre-existing conditions would have toned down her ability to mount a good vaccine-induced immune response and thus impair her ability to fully benefit from the protective effects of the vaccine.
Dr Fong further says their advice is that we all need to continue practicing strict COVID-19 safety measures to protect our vulnerable family members, irrespective of the vaccination status.
The Health Ministry announced 7 new COVID-19 deaths for the period from the 27th to 30th August 2021.
All 7 deaths reported yesterday were from the Western Division.
The second COVID-19 death to report is a 76-year-old woman from Ba who died at home on the 29th of August. She was not vaccinated.
The third COVID-19 death to report is a 72-year-old man from Rakiraki. He presented to the Rakiraki Hospital in severe respiratory distress on the 27th of August and passed away on the same day. He was not vaccinated.
The fourth COVID-19 death to report is an 83-year-old woman from Rakiraki. She presented to the Rakiraki Hospital in severe respiratory distress. She was not vaccinated.
The fifth COVID-19 death to report is a 74-year-old woman from Rakiraki who died at home on the 29th of August. She was not vaccinated.
The sixth COVID-19 death to report is a 53-year-old man from Nadi. He presented to the Nadi Hospital in severe respiratory distress. A medical team from Nadi transferred him to the Lautoka Hospital. He died 12 days after admission on 30th August. He was not vaccinated.
The seventh COVID-19 death is a 56-year-old woman from Tavua. She presented to the Tavua Hospital in severe respiratory distress. A medical team from Tavua transferred her to the Lautoka Hospital. She died 7 days after admission on 29th August. She was not vaccinated.
There has been one death of a COVID-19 positive patient. However, this death has been classified as a non-COVID death by the doctors. The doctors have determined that the death was caused by a serious pre-existing medical condition and not COVID-19.
There have now been 496 deaths due to COVID-19 in Fiji, with 494 of these deaths during the outbreak that started in April this year.
As of August 26th, the national 7 day rolling average of COVID-19 deaths per day is 6. The 7 day rolling average for COVID-19 deaths per day in the Central Division is 2 and in the Western Division is 4.
Permanent Secretary for Health Dr James Fong says Fiji has had 505 new cases of COVID-19 for the 24 hour period that ended at 8am yesterday. 343 cases are from the Western Division, 105 cases are from the Central Division and 57 cases are from the Eastern Division.
Dr Fong says there are 57 new COVID-19 positive cases in Kadavu.
This means there are now 232 active cases of COVID-19 in Kadavu.
All these individuals have been isolated.
There have been 810 new recoveries to report since the last update, which means that there are now 19,151 active cases.
8,352 active cases are in the Central Division, 10,562 active cases in the Western Division, 5 active cases in the Northern Division (Nabouwalu and Macuata) and 232 active cases in Kadavu.
There have been 46,646 cases during the outbreak that started in April 2021. We have recorded a total of 46,716 cases in Fiji since the first case was reported in March 2020, with 26,761 recoveries.
Dr Fong says 9 health screening teams have been deployed to systematically undertake outbreak assessment for the 75 villages and 15 settlements of Kadavu Island.
Seven villages have been completed so far and the initial assessment is anticipated to be completed by the end of this first week of deployment.
The teams are doing swabbing and screening, contact tracing, checking immunization status and doing vaccination, as well as training the Community Health Workers in each community on monitoring positive patients in their own homes with pulse oximeters machine.
Patients who show low readings in oximetry are referred to the zone nurses and to Vunisea Hospital or Kavala Health Centre for further assessment and care.
Dr Fong further says the Vunisea Hospital has been set up as the main COVID admission hospital in Kadavu with 20 bed capacity, and sections of the hospital designated as triage area, COVID admission wards and Non-COVID admission wards.
He adds additional surge admission capacity has been established at admission block of the hospital, and the Vunisea Secondary School has been identified as the possible Intermediate Care facility if patient numbers continue to increase.
To date, 3 COVID patients are admitted at the hospital and in stable condition.
He adds the community engagement team led by the Provincial Administrator Kadavu are assisting with community awareness, home quarantine of cases in their villages, and transfer of cases for admission to Vunisea Hospital.
Dr Fong says movement restriction at Vunisea wharf has been enforced to ensure minimal contact between people when freight and supplies are delivered at the wharf adding that the village headman in each village in Kadavu have voluntarily lockdown their villages, and villagers who are positive are strictly home isolated for 14 days and visited daily by village health workers or zone nurses for monitoring and assessment.
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