721 new COVID-19 cases, 6 new COVID-19 deaths

721 new cases of COVID-19 and 6 COVID-19 deaths have been reported for the 24 hour period that ended at 8am yesterday.

Permanent Secretary for Health Doctor James Fong says the first COVID-19 death is an 80-year-old woman from Vatuwaqa.

He says a Ministry response team attended to her at home and after assessing that she was severely ill, transferred her to the FEMAT Field Hospital.

Doctor Fong says the woman had reportedly been having symptoms of COVID-19 at home for approximately three weeks.

He says her condition worsened at the FEMAT Field Hospital and she died a few hours later.

She was not vaccinated.

The second COVID-19 death is an 80-year-old woman from Mead Road.

Doctor Fong says this woman was declared dead on arrival by the attending medical officer at the CWM Hospital Emergency Department.

He says this means that she died at home or on her way to the hospital.

Her family reported that she had been unwell for at least three days at home.

She was not vaccinated.

The third COVID-19 death is a 51-year-old woman from Gaji Road.

She was admitted at the CWM Hospital with COVID-19 symptoms like fever, cough and generalized body pain.

Her condition worsened in the hospital and she died 11 days after admission.

She was not vaccinated.

Doctor Fong adds the fourth COVID-19 death is a 44-year-old man from Laucala Beach Estate.

He presented to the CWM Hospital Emergency Department in severe respiratory distress.

His family reported that he had COVID-19 symptoms like fever, cough, shortness of breath, weakness and headache for one week.

His condition worsened in the hospital and he died 4 days after admission.

He received his 1st dose of the vaccine in mid-June.

Doctor Fong says this man had not received the second dose of the vaccine and was not fully vaccinated.

The fifth COVID-19 death is a 68-year-old woman from Delainivesi, Lami.

The Permanent Secretary says the woman's family brought her to the CWM Hospital Emergency Department after she was noted to be unresponsive.

Her family reported that she had been feeling unwell at home two days before.

She died on the same day.

Doctor Fong says this woman was not vaccinated.

The sixth COVID-19 death is a 52-year-old woman from Raiwai.

She was brought by her family to the CWM Hospital Emergency Department.

Doctor Fong says the woman's family reported that she had been unwell with a cough, shortness of breath, generalized weakness and vomiting, for at least three days.

He says the woman's condition worsened in the hospital and she died one day later.

She was not vaccinated.

There have now been 48 deaths due to COVID-19 in Fiji, with 46 of these deaths during the outbreak that started in April this year.

Fiji has also recorded 19 COVID-19 positive patients who died from the serious medical conditions that they had before they contracted COVID-19.

There have been 101 new recoveries reported since the last update, which means that there are now 7,138 active cases.

Fiji has recorded 8,591 cases during the outbreak that started in April 2021.

We have recorded a total of 8,661 cases in Fiji since the first case was reported in March 2020, with 1,456 recoveries.

Doctor Fong stresses that sadly, they continue to see people with severe COVID-19 dying at home or coming to a medical facility in the late stages of severe illness and dying within a day or two.

He says severe COVID-19 is a medical emergency and a delay in receiving appropriate medical treatment may result in a higher risk of death.

The severe symptoms of COVID-19 include difficulty breathing, persistent pain or pressure in the chest, severe headache for a few days, new confusion, inability to stay awake; and pale, gray, or blue-coloured skin, lips or nail beds.

If you or a loved one have any of these symptoms please go immediately to your nearest medical facility or call 165 if unable to get to a medical facility.

57% of the people have received their first doses of AstraZeneca while 10.2% are fully vaccinated