Transmission Update
We have recorded 215 new cases in the 24 hour period ending at 8.00am today.
2 cases are from the Nawakalevu containment zone in Nadi, and 1 nurse at the Natabua Quarantine Facility in Lautoka, with the remaining 212 cases from the Lami-Suva-Nausori containment zone. 101 cases are from existing areas of interest in this zone, and 18 are from new areas of interest which are FMF, New World Valelevu, Police Medical Suva, and Our Lady of Nazareth Wailoku. The remaining cases are contacts of known cases, cases that were seen in screening clinics and were swabbed, and cases under investigation to determine possible sources of transmission. A full breakdown has been published online on the Ministry’s COVID-19 dashboard and on the Fijian Government Facebook page. You can also view the approximate locations of the new cases on the Ministry’s COVID-19 dashboard at the following link
http://bit.ly/3vE2ZBb
Sadly, we have another COVID-19 death to report. This was a 34 year old woman from Vereisi Settlement in Nadawa who had been unwell at home before collapsing and being rushed to CWM Hospital. She was declared dead on arrival at the Emergency Department at CWM Hospital. She had no known pre-existing medical conditions, and was swabbed according to protocol in the Emergency Department, and tested positive. Her death has been determined to have been caused by COVID-19 by her doctors at CWM Hospital. She was not vaccinated.
Also, 2 more people who tested positive for COVID-19 have died. The doctors at CWM Hospital are investigating to determine if their deaths were caused by COVID-19.
There have now been 14 deaths due to COVID-19 in Fiji, with 12 of these deaths during the outbreak that started in April this year. We also have recorded 8 COVID-19 positive patients that died from pre-existing non-COVID-19 related illnesses. 3 deaths are currently under investigation.
There have been 22 new recoveries reported since the last update, which means that there are now 2363 active cases in isolation. There have been 2993 cases during the outbreak that started in April 2021. We have recorded a total of 3063 cases in Fiji since the first case was reported in March 2020, with 675 recoveries.
Testing Update
A total of 142,087 samples have been tested since this outbreak started in April 2021, with 184,948 tested since testing began in early 2020. 3022 tests have been reported for June 23rd. Updated testing numbers for samples tested in the Lautoka and Nadi hospital labs for June 17th, June 21st and June 22nd have been received and the total testing numbers for those respective days has been updated.
The national 7-day daily test average is 2977 tests per day or 3.4 tests per 1000 population. The national 7-day average daily test positivity is 6.3% and continues on an upward trend.
Screening Update
A total of 3179 individuals were screened and 210 swabbed by our mobile screening teams in the last 24 hours. This brings our cumulative total to 655,404 individuals screened and 52,725 swabbed since the start of this mobile screening program.
Vaccination Update
We have now administered first doses to 272,354 individuals since the beginning of the vaccination campaign and second doses to 38,031. This means that 46% of adults in Fiji have received one dose, and 6.5% have received the second dose.
Epidemic Outlook
The 7 day average of new cases per day has increased to 203 cases per day or 230 cases per million population per day. Our daily testing numbers have remained at a high level, and yet our test positivity continues to increase. All the evidence is that there is widespread community transmission in the Lami-Suva-Nausori containment zone.
There are also clusters in Naitasiri and one cluster in Korovou. There continue to be cases reported in Nadi, but so far they are from within the containment zone in the Nawajikuma, Nawakalevu, and Tramline containment area.
Two cases from the same family were detected in Lautoka, as announced 3 days ago. And now a nurse at the Natabua quarantine facility has tested positive.
To date, this outbreak appears contained to Viti Levu, with the Northern and Eastern divisions yet to detect a case.