The Health Ministry has completed its review of the adult target population for vaccination and the revised coverage rates are 95.2% for one dose and 64.4% for the two-dose coverage.
Permanent Secretary for Health Dr James Fong says to date, a total of 588,599 adults in Fiji have received their first dose of the vaccine and 398,077 have received their second doses.
He says the mop-up vaccination program will continue and this may result in further adjustments to the target population.
Dr Fong adds for persons who are currently ill or have valid reasons for delaying their vaccination, they request you to apply for possible temporary exemptions through covidexemptionreq@gmail.com.
Fiji has recorded 118 new cases of COVID-19 for the 24 hour period that ended at 8 am today while we also recorded one death due to COVID-19.
Permanent Secretary for Health Dr James Fong says the COVID-19 death to report is a 59-year-old man from Nadi.
Dr Fong says the man presented to the Nadi Hospital in severe respiratory distress and his family reported that he had a history of a cough and shortness of breath five days before his presentation.
He was transferred to the Lautoka Hospital and passed away on the 19th of this month. He was not vaccinated.
Dr Fong further says there have been 4 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 a serious pre-existing medical condition and not COVID-19.
There have now been 576 deaths due to COVID-19 in Fiji, with 574 of these deaths during the outbreak that started in April this year.
There are now 12,948 active cases.
Dr Fong adds they are currently reviewing and reconciling their active case database with deaths and recoveries and as a result, they expect the death and recovery numbers to intermittently change as verifications are made.
READ FULL COVID-19 UPDATES.
Permanent Secretary for Health Dr James Fong says the vaccination coverage rate in children will not determine the school starting dates.
Dr Fong says a task force has been established to look at ensuring adequate and appropriate oversight over the implementation and maintenance of all measures needed to make the school environment as safe as possible.
He says their 15 to 17-year vaccination program began yesterday with some teething issues which they will continue to iron out over the next few days.
Dr Fong adds their denominator for this phase of vaccination is 45,691 and it is subject to adjustments as target population verification is an ongoing exercise.
READ FULL COVID-19 UPDATES.
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