Statistician says Fiji's rapidly escalating COVID-19 crisis has overtaken the spread of infection seen in India at its reported peak

With the increasing number of COVID-19 cases, severe cases and deaths, a Canterbury University statistician says Fiji's rapidly escalating COVID-19 crisis has overtaken the spread of infection seen in India at its reported peak.

We are now at the phase where the health workers are trying their best to look after the increasing number of people that need COVID care as resources and workers are seriously stretched, with the Bravo Team from the Australia and New Zealand Medical Assistance Team coming to assist and Saint John New Zealand even sending four ambulances.

Professor Michael Plank has also told newshub that India's case numbers were likely higher than reported, but if you take our official statistics on cases, the situation for Fiji is grim by comparison.

Plank says compared to India, it's higher than the number of reported cases in India relative to population size at the peak of their outbreak.

He says it's looking really serious now for Fiji.

With people still not following protocols, COVID positive people moving around and people still undecided on vaccinations based on misinformation and disinformation, the COVID cases continue to rise and the burden on the health workers is already immeasurable.

Home swabbing has stopped as the health resources and workers are stretched with the increasing number of cases during what is termed by the Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong as the escalation stage.

That also means we are yet to reach the peak number of cases in the country.

On April 26th this year, Doctor Fong had made the analysis and spoken about what we were going through and what would happen if people do not follow the COVID protocols.

We are at this serious phase now as the rising number of cases continue with 1,220 new cases of COVID-19 announced for the 24 hour period that ended at 8am yesterday.

There are now 11,033 active COVID cases in Fiji.

The national 7-day average daily test positivity is 18 percent and continues on an upward trend.

The 7-day average of new cases per day is 746 cases per day or 844 cases per million population per day.

Doctor Fong says the average daily case numbers are increasing, together with cases of severe disease and deaths.

He says sadly, people with severe COVID-19 are still dying at home or they are coming to a medical facility in the late stages of severe illness.

Please also note the 92 percent efficacy for AstraZeneca kicks in 14 days after the second dose.

Doctor Fong also says severe COVID-19 is a medical emergency, and a delay in receiving appropriate medical treatment reduces your chance of recovering from the disease.

Severe symptoms of COVID-19 include difficulty breathing, persistent pain or pressure in the chest, severe headache for a few days, new confusion, inability to wake or stay awake; and pale, gray, or blue-colored skin, lips, or nail beds.

If you or a loved one have any of these symptoms please go immediately to your nearest hospital or medical facility or call 165 if you are unable to travel to a medical facility.