92.3% of the target population have received at least one dose of the COVID vaccine and 39% are now fully vaccinated

541,611 adults in Fiji have received their first dose of the COVID vaccine and 228,799 have received their second doses.

This means that 92.3% of the target population have received at least one dose and 39% are now fully vaccinated nationwide.

Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong says they are continuing with their mop-up exercise of the first dose campaign, which will allow them to specifically target communities with low coverage, and subsequently also correct and update the total eligible population for the current vaccination program.

Meanwhile the 7-day average of new cases per day is 520 cases per day or 588 cases per million population per day.

Doctor Fong says they have noted a drop in cases reported per day recently however, the daily testing numbers have also been dropping around the same time, due to the change in testing policy in Suva-Nausori.

As announced on July 21st by the Permanent Secretary, only persons that have a higher risk of developing severe COVID-19 are being targeted for testing in Suva-Nausori.

Doctor Fong says this was done so that resources could be targeted to early detection, monitoring and care of persons with COVID-19 who are at higher risk of severe disease, to prevent more people succumbing to severe disease and death.

He says we are likely seeing the effect of this testing policy change now in Suva-Nausori with the drop in daily reported cases.

Doctor Fong says this does not mean that the outbreak is on a downward trend in the Suva-Nausori community.

As previously announced by the Permanent Secretary, daily case numbers in Suva-Nausori are currently not being used as an indicator to monitor the progress of the outbreak in Suva-Nausori.

The Ministry is closely monitoring other indicators such as test positivity, hospitalisations and deaths to track the progress of the outbreak in Suva-Nausori.

He says they are seeing increasing cases reported in the Western Division with evidence of widespread community transmission in the division.