8 new COVID-19 deaths and 653 new COVID cases

8 new COVID-19 deaths have been recorded from August 14th to 18th while there are 653 new COVID cases.

Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong says 5 deaths have been reported from the Central Division and 3 deaths are from the Western Division.

The first death is a 54-year-old woman from Tailevu. She presented to the Korovou Hospital in severe respiratory distress.

She died on the same day on 16th August.

She received the first dose of the vaccine in early August. She did not receive the second dose of the vaccine.

The second COVID-19 death is a 54-year-old man from Lautoka. He presented to the Lautoka Hospital on 15th August in severe respiratory distress and tested positive for COVID-19.

He had a history of a cough and fever for three days prior from 12th August.

Sadly, he died one day after admission on 16th August he received the first dose of the vaccine in early June.

He received the second dose of the vaccine on 2nd August However, as he got sick with COVID-19 less than 2 weeks after receiving the second dose, he was not fully vaccinated when he got infected with the virus.

The third death is an 86 year old woman from Sigatoka who died at home on 16th August. She was not vaccinated.

The fourth COVID-19 death is a 40-year-old man from Nausori. He presented to the CWM Hospital in severe respiratory distress. He died sixteen days after admission on 18th August. He was not vaccinated.

Doctor Fong says the fifth COVID-19 death is a 78-year-old man from Tailevu who died at home on 14th August. He was not vaccinated.

The sixth death is a 72-year-old man from Sigatoka who died at home on 17th August. He received the first dose of the vaccine in early August. He did not receive the second dose of the vaccine.

The seventh COVID-19 death is an 84-year-old man from Navua who died at home on 15th August. He was not vaccinated.

The eighth death is a 75-year-old man from Suva. He presented to the CWM Hospital in severe respiratory distress. He died two days after admission on 18th August. He received the first dose in late July. He did not receive the second dose of the vaccine.

There have been 7 more deaths of COVID-19 positive patients. However, these 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 today’s newly reported deaths, there have now been 413 deaths due to COVID-19 in Fiji, with 411 of these deaths during the outbreak that started in April this year.

The national 7 day rolling average of COVID-19 deaths per day is 10.

The 7 day rolling average for COVID-19 deaths per day in the Central Division is 4 and in the Western Division is 6 .

We also have recorded 230 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 653 new COVID cases, 462 cases are from the Western Division and 191 cases are from the Central Division.

There have been 1,088 new recoveries reported since the last update, which means that there are now 21,304 active cases.

13,652 active cases are in the Central Division, 7,651 active cases in the Western Division and 1 active case in the Northern Division.

There have been 41,760 cases during the outbreak that started in April 2021.

Fiji has recorded a total of 41,830 cases since the first case was reported in March 2020, with 19,883 recoveries.

91.7% of the target population have received at least one dose of the COVID vaccine and 37.5% are now fully vaccinated

54 COVID patients are in severe condition and 15 are in critical condition