547,252 eligible adults in Fiji have received their first dose of the COVID vaccine and 245,749 have received their second doses.
This means that 93.3% of the target population have received at least one dose and 41.9% are now fully vaccinated nationwide.
Meanwhile Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong says the 7-day average of new cases per day is 416 cases per day or 471 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.
Since July 21st, only persons that have a higher risk of developing severe COVID-19 are being targeted for testing in Suva-Nausori.
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.
Doctor Fong confirms that they will be transitioning to community surveillance testing as severe disease numbers and positivity rates approach the containment phase levels.
He also says we are likely seeing the effect of the testing policy change now in Suva-Nausori with the drop in daily reported cases. This does not mean that the outbreak is on a downward trend in the Suva-Nausori community.
The Permanent Secretary says the 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.
We are seeing increasing cases reported in the Western Division with evidence of widespread community transmission in the division.
Deaths per day at a 7 day average in the Western Division now surpass the Central Division.
The Northern Division remains with one active case, with all contacts in quarantine so far testing negative, and swabbing results from within the containment area, and nearby communities also returning negative.
There are currently 242 COVID-19 patients admitted to the hospital.
103 patients are admitted at the Lautoka Hospital, 28 patients are admitted at the FEMAT Field Hospital, and 111 admitted at CWM Hospital, St Giles, and Makoi.
44 patients are considered to be in severe condition, and 8 are in critical condition.
Six new COVID-19 deaths have been confirmed for the period of 22nd to 24th August, which brings the total number of COVID deaths in Fiji to 459.
Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong says three deaths were reported from the Central Division and three deaths were reported from the Western Division.
The first COVID-19 death is a 47 year old man from Naitasiri who died at home on 23rd August. He was not vaccinated.
The second death is a 74 year old man from Ba. He presented to the Ba Mission Hospital in severe respiratory distress. He died three days after admission on 22nd August. He received the first dose of the vaccine in late July. He did not receive the second dose of the vaccine.
The third COVID-19 death is an 80 year old man from Sigatoka who died at home on 22nd August. He was not vaccinated.
The fourth death is an 80 year old man from Suva. He presented to the CWM Hospital in severe respiratory distress. He died 7 days after admission on 24th August. He was not vaccinated.
The fifth COVID-19 death is an 85 year old man from Tailevu who died at home on 24th August. He was not vaccinated.
The sixth death is a 65 year old woman from Ba who died at home on 23rd August. She was not vaccinated.
There have been 5 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.
As of August 20th, the national 7 day rolling average of COVID-19 deaths per day is 8.
The 7 day rolling average for COVID-19 deaths per day in the Central Division is 3 and in the Western Division is 5.
We also have recorded 271 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.
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