9 new COVID-19 deaths

There are 9 new COVID-19 deaths from the 18th to the 23rd of August.

Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong says four deaths were reported from the Central Division and five deaths were reported from the Western Division.

The first COVID-19 death is a 60 year old woman from Lautoka. She presented to the Lautoka Hospital in respiratory distress. She reported having a fever, cough and shortness of breath for one week prior to presentation. She died 11 days after admission on 21st August. She was not vaccinated.

The second death is a 67 year old woman from Lautoka. She presented to the Lautoka Hospital Emergency Department in severe respiratory distress. She died on the same day on 20th August. She was not vaccinated.

The third COVID-19 death is a 66 year old woman from Navua who died at home on 18th August. She was not vaccinated.

The fourth death is a 66 year old man from Naitasiri. He presented to the CWM Hospital in severe respiratory distress. He died 10 days after admission on 23rd August. He was not vaccinated.

The fifth COVID-19 death is an 84 year old woman from Navua who died at home on 21st August. She was not vaccinated.

The sixth death is a 57 year old man from Nadi. He presented to the Nadi Hospital in severe respiratory distress. He died on the same day 23rd August. He was not vaccinated.

The seventh COVID-19 death is an 80 year old man from Nadi. He presented to the Nadi Hospital in severe respiratory distress. His family reported that he had shortness of breath for one week prior to the presentation. He died on the same day on 23rd August. He was not vaccinated.

The eighth COVID-19 death is a 72 year old woman from Suva. She presented to the CWM Hospital in severe respiratory distress. She died 16 days after admission on 23rd August. She received the 1st dose of the vaccine in late July. She did not receive the second dose of the vaccine.

The ninth death is a 49 year old man from Ba who died at home on 20th August. He was not vaccinated.

There have been 9 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 453 deaths due to COVID-19 in Fiji, with 451 of these deaths during the outbreak that started in April this year.

As of August 19th, the national 7 day rolling average of COVID-19 deaths per day is 10.

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

Fiji has also recorded 266 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.

There are currently 264 COVID-19 patients admitted to the hospital.

111 patients are admitted at the Lautoka Hospital, 38 patients are admitted at the FEMAT Field Hospital, and 115 admitted at CWM Hospital, St Giles, and Makoi.

24 patients are considered to be in severe condition, and 10 are in critical condition.