There have now been 84 COVID-19 deaths reported during the third wave so far with 11 new COVID-19 deaths reported overnight.
The Health Ministry says 11 new COVID-19 deaths were reported from the 13th to the 23rd of this month.
Permanent Secretary for Health Doctor James Fong says 5 deaths were from the Central Division, 3 from the Western Division, 2 from the Eastern Division and one from the Northern Division.
Doctor Fong confirms two of the people who died were below 18 years old and had pre-existing conditions from birth which contributed to the severity of their sickness and deaths.
He adds the remaining individuals were at a higher risk of severe disease due to their ages or underlying medical conditions.
Doctor Fong confirms 5 of the people who died were not vaccinated, one had only received his first dose, 3 were fully vaccinated and 2 were not eligible for vaccination.
He adds the first COVID-19 death is a 4-month old baby from the Western Division who was brought to a remote nursing station on 13th January 2022 in a severely weakened state.
Doctor Fong further says he was medically assessed and stabilized by the attending medical staff and a COVID test was done which was noted to be positive.
He adds sadly this baby passed away before he could be transferred to the Lautoka Hospital despite the resuscitation efforts of the attending medical staff.
Doctor Fong adds records show that the baby had been born with medical complications and was lost to follow-up.
This baby was not eligible for vaccination.
The second COVID-19 death is a 71-year-old-man from the Eastern Division who died at home on 15th January 2022.
She was not vaccinated.
Doctor Fong adds the third COVID-19 death is a 50-year old man from the Eastern Division who died at home on 16th January 2022.
This man had received only the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The Permanent Secretary for Health says the fourth COVID-19 death is a 15-year old boy from the Central Division who was admitted to the CWM Hospital on 17th January 2022.
This boy had a significant pre-existing medical condition which contributed to the worsening of his COVID-19 complications.
Doctor Fong adds this boy died on 19th January 2022 and was not vaccinated.
The fifth COVID-19 death is an 83-year old woman from the Central Division who died at home on 20th January 2022.
She was fully vaccinated.
Doctor Fong adds the sixth COVID-19 death to report is a 75-year old woman from the Central Division who died on arrival at Nakasi Health Centre on 20th January 2022.
She had pre-existing medical conditions and was fully vaccinated.
The seventh COVID-19 death is a 67-year old man from the Central Division who died at home on 20th January 2022.
He had pre-existing medical conditions and was not vaccinated.
Doctor Fong confirms the eighth COVID-19 death is a 74-year old woman from the Western Division who died on arrival at Lautoka Hospital on 20th January 2022.
She had pre-existing medical conditions and was fully vaccinated.
The ninth COVID-19 death to report is a 54-year old woman from the Central Division who died at home on 21st January 2022.
She was not vaccinated.
The Permanent Secretary for Health says the tenth COVID-19 death to report is a 64-year old man from the Western Division who died on arrival at Lautoka Hospital on 22nd January 2022.
He had significant pre-existing medical conditions and was not vaccinated
The eleventh COVID-19 death to report is of an 80-year old woman from the Northern Division who died on arrival at Labasa Hospital on 23rd January 2022.
She was not vaccinated.
The Permanent Secretary for Health Doctor James Fong says the deaths of a 4-month-old baby and a 15-year-boy with underlying health conditions are sad reminders that as cases increase to very high numbers in the community our most vulnerable are at higher risk of being infected and suffering from severe disease.
He says they know that severe disease is rare in children but this risk increases should they have significant underlying health conditions.
Doctor Fong stresses that we must all do our best to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 to protect our vulnerable.
He says this means getting fully vaccinated which includes getting a booster shot when due plus masking, physical distancing, avoiding crowds, hand hygiene, social gathering restrictions, indoor capacity restrictions, ventilation and curfews.
Doctor Fong is strongly advising people over the age of 50, pregnant women and those with non-communicable diseases that develop any COVID-19 symptoms to please come forward to be tested and reviewed by medical teams.
Symptoms include cold or flu-like symptoms such as runny nose, sneezing, nasal congestion, sore throat, cough, body ache and fever.
987 new COVID-19 cases have been recorded by the Health Ministry since last Friday.
There were 656 new cases were recorded Saturday, 81 new cases were recorded on Sunday and 250 new cases in the last 24 hours ending at 8am yesterday.
The Health Ministry says of the 987 cases recorded, 859 cases were in the Central Division; 62 cases in the Western Division, 18 cases in the Northern Division, and nil cases in the Eastern Division.
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