7 new COVID-19 deaths have been reported from 22nd January 2022 to 26th January 2022 bringing the total COVID-19 deaths in the third wave to 103 so far.
Permanent Secretary for Health Doctor James Fong says one death was from the Central Division, two from the Western Division and four from the Northern Division.
He says two were fully vaccinated and the remaining five were unvaccinated.
Doctor Fong says medical records reflected that, out of the seven, one individual had a significant congenital medical condition while six had significant pre-existing comorbidities which contributed to the severity of their illness and demise.
He adds the first COVID -19 death is a 64-year-old man from the Northern Division who died on arrival at Labasa Hospital on 22 January 2022.
He had pre-existing medical conditions and was not vaccinated.
Doctor Fong further says the second COVID-19 death is a 71-year-old man from the Western Division who died at home on 24th January 2022. He had pre-existing medical conditions and was fully vaccinated.
The Permanent Secretary for Health confirms the third COVID-19 death is an 86-year-old woman from the Northern Division, who was admitted at Labasa Hospital on 23rd January 2022 and died 2 days later in hospital on 25th January 2022.
She was not vaccinated.
Doctor Fong further adds that the fourth COVID-19 death is an 83-year-old woman from the Western Division who died at home on 25th January 2022. She was not vaccinated.
He says the fifth COVID-19 death is a 31-year-old man from the Northern Division who died at home on 26th January 2022. Doctor Fong adds this man had a significant congenital medical condition that likely contributed to his death.
He was fully vaccinated.
The Permanent Secretary further adds the sixth COVID-19 death is a 75-year-old man from the Central Division who died at home. He was not vaccinated.
The seventh COVID-19 death is of an 83-year-old woman of the Northern Division, who was admitted at Labasa Hospital on 23rd January 2022.
She had pre-existing medical conditions which contributed to the severity of her illness.
This woman died 2 days later in hospital on 25th January 2022. She was not vaccinated.
The national 7-day average COVID-19 daily test positivity is 44.6%.
This means 44.6% of the COVID-19 tests conducted by the Health Ministry return a positive result.
The Health Ministry says the high positivity rate is an indication of widespread community transmission.
There are 1,851 active COVID-19 cases based on the latest update by the Health Ministry but please not that this does not include the Rapid Antigen Tests done by people at home or those that self-isolate and take necessary action based entirely on their symptoms.
146 new cases COVID-19 have been recorded by the Health Ministry since Wednesday.
102 of these new cases were recorded on Thursday and 44 new cases in the last 24 hours ending at 8am yesterday.
Of the 146 cases recorded, 86 cases were in the Central Division; 54 cases in the Western Division, 6 cases in the Northern Division, and nil cases in the Eastern Division.
The Permanent Secretary for Health Doctor James Fong says vaccination of children under the age of 12 remains part of ongoing discussions as sourcing them remains difficult.
He has also revealed that as of 26th January, 72,399 people have so far received the booster dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine from the 142,240 persons considered eligible.
This represents a 51% coverage rate for booster-eligible persons.
Dr Fong says the booster vaccine and vaccination for children are not considered mandatory however they encourage all eligible individuals to be vaccinated or get a booster dose and help navigate Fiji into a safer COVID zone that supports the socio-economic revival and safer reopening of schools.
Dr Fong says they are also expecting to receive more Pfizer vaccines soon which will be used for booster doses and as a vaccine for children.
Meanwhile 92.7% of the adult population are now fully vaccinated while 98% have received the first dose.
30,559 children between the ages of 15 and 17 are now fully vaccinated while 10,657 children between the ages of 12 to 14 have received both doses.
129 people are admitted in hospitals around the country with COVID-19. 70 people are admitted in the Central Division, 59 in the Western Division and 26 in the Northern Division.
The Health Ministry confirms that none of these people are in severe or critical condition.
These latest numbers show a further decrease in the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations.
On Wednesday, 155 were admitted in hospitals around the country with COVID-19. Semi
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