3 new COVID-19 deaths have been reported for the period of 9th to 15th September 2021.
All deaths were reported from the Western Division.
The first COVID-19 death to report is a 56-year-old man from Tavua who died at home on 11th September 2021.
He received the first dose of the vaccine in mid-July.
He did not receive the second dose of the vaccine.
This means that he was not fully vaccinated.
The second COVID-19 death to report is a 75-year-old man from Tavua.
He presented to the Tavua Hospital in severe respiratory distress.
Sadly, he died two days after admission on 9th September 2021.
He was not vaccinated.
The third COVID-19 death to report is a 48-year-old man from Tavua.
He presented to the Tavua Hospital in severe respiratory distress.
Sadly, he died on the same day on 15th September 2021.
He was not vaccinated.
Permanent Secretary for Health Doctor James Fong says following further review they have an additional nineteen COVID-19 deaths to report for the period of 3rd July to 11th August.
All these deaths were reported from the Central Division.
Doctor Fong says an analysis of the nineteen deaths have highlighted that individuals were aged between 43 to 94 years.
11 were males.
16 of the individuals died at home or on their way to the hospital.
17 of these deaths were unvaccinated, the remaining 2 received only one dose of the vaccine.
Doctor Fong says this means that there were no deaths of individuals who were fully vaccinated.
There have also been 21 more deaths of COVID-19 positive patients.
However, these deaths have been classified as non-COVID deaths by their doctors.
The doctors have determined that these deaths were caused by serious pre-existing medical conditions and not COVID-19.
There have now been 566 deaths due to COVID-19 in Fiji, with 564 of these deaths during the outbreak that started in April this year.
Fiji has recorded 400 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.
To date, 97.8% of the target population in Fiji have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and 65% are now fully vaccinated.
This means, 584,096 adults in Fiji have received their first dose of the vaccine and 381,209 have received their second doses.
At the 70% threshold, the curfew hours for Viti Levu will move from 10pm to 4am while at the 80% threshold, the curfew will be from 11pm to 4am, Government expects all businesses to fully re-open to fully vaccinated Fijians, all sports including team sports can be played again and stadiums can re-open.
Meanwhile, vaccination of eligible children aged 15 to 17 years with the Moderna vaccine begins on Monday.
Ministry of Health says online registration is open and parents are encouraged to register their children before vaccination.
They say parental or guardian consent is mandatory before vaccination and no vaccine will be given without the consent of parents or guardians.
You can register on vra.digitalfiji.gov.fj
READ FULL COVID-19 UPDATES.
Fiji recorded 132 new cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hour period that ended at 8am yesterday.
36 cases are from the Western Division, 95 cases are from the Central Division and 1 case is from the Eastern Division.
There are now 12,834 active cases. 1,185 active cases are in the Central Division, 11,343 active cases in the Western Division, 1 active case in the Northern Division (Macuata), and 305 active cases in the Eastern Division (all in Kadavu).
There have been 49,649 cases during the outbreak that started in April 2021. We have recorded a total of 49,719 cases in Fiji since the first case was reported in March 2020.
READ FULL COVID-19 UPDATES.
All heads of schools, teachers and ancillary staff who are fully vaccinated are required to return to work from Monday to assist the Health Ministry in the school vaccination programme.
The Ministry for Education says teachers should now be able to travel to their respective schools as the Viti Levu containment borders have been lifted.
They say public transport is now fully operational, so all fully vaccinated teachers are required to report to work.
It says teachers should resume duties and prepare for school reopening.
The Ministry says a circular was released to heads of schools detailing these arrangements.
They are also grateful to the teachers who are assisting the Health Ministry in data verification and other National Duties.
The student vaccination programme will be rolled out in all four divisions from Monday.
The Ministry says School Vaccination Clusters have been formed to facilitate the vaccination of eligible children aged between 15 to 17 years with the Moderna vaccine.
The Ministry is encouraging parents and guardians to register their children online prior to the vaccination.
You can register on vra.digitalfiji.gov.fj
Parents and guardians will have to provide consent before vaccination as no student will get vaccinated without their parents or guardians consent.
As of 3rd June 2021, WHO has evaluated that the vaccines currently offered in Fiji have met the necessary criteria for safety and efficacy.
Also, vaccines have saved millions of lives over the years.
Minister for Education Premila Kumar is advising parents to get their children vaccinated as vaccines provide a high degree of protection to children from getting seriously ill from this deadly virus.
READ FULL COVID-19 UPDATES.
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