Transmission Update
We have 522 new cases of COVID-19 and 3 COVID-19 deaths to report for the 24 hour period that ended at 8am today. A full breakdown of areas of interest 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 cases at the following link:
http://bit.ly/3vE2ZBb.
The first death is a 93 year old woman from Matata, Valenicinia Lami. She died at home. According to protocol she was swabbed and tested positive for COVID-19. She was not vaccinated.
The two other deaths were previously reported as under investigation to determine if the cause of death was COVID-19. Doctors have now concluded that their deaths were caused by COVID-19. The first was a 60 year old man from Lami Village who was declared dead on arrival at the Lami Health Centre. He died at home or on the way to the health facility. According to protocol he was swabbed and tested positive for COVID-19. He was not vaccinated. The second was a 56 year old woman from Qauia in Lami who died at home. She also tested positive for COVID-19. She was not vaccinated.
Another death of a COVID-19 positive patient that was previously reported as under investigation to determine if COVID-19 was the cause of death has now been classified as a non-COVID death. Doctors have determined that the person died from a pre-existing illness and not COVID-19.
There have now been 30 deaths due to COVID-19 in Fiji, with 28 of these deaths during the outbreak that started in April this year. We also have recorded 13 COVID-19 positive patients who died from the serious medical conditions that they had before they contracted COVID-19.
There have been 108 new recoveries reported since the last update, which means that there are now 4,909 active cases in isolation. There have been 6091 cases during the outbreak that started in April 2021. We have recorded a total of 6161 cases in Fiji since the first case was reported in March 2020, with 1209 recoveries.
Screening Update
A total of 3,610 individuals were screened and 464 swabbed at our stationary screening clinics in the last 24 hours, bringing our cumulative total to 243791individuals screened and 33,781 swabbed to date. Our mobile screening teams screened a total of 1,325 individuals and swabbed 141 in the last 24 hours. This brings our cumulative total to 672,362 individuals screened and 55,229 swabbed by our mobile teams to date.
Testing update
A total of 170,431 samples have been tested since this outbreak started in April 2021, with 213,292 tested since testing began in early 2020. 3216 tests have been reported for 2nd July. Testing number data for from all labs has now been received for June 30th and July 1st so total numbers for those days have been updated. The national 7-day daily test average is 3,144 tests per day or 3.6 tests per 1,000 population. The national 7-day average daily test positivity is 10.4% and continues on an upward trend.
Vaccination Update
To-date, 317, 461 adults in Fiji have received their first dose of the vaccine and 52,001 have received their second doses. This means that 54 % of the target population has received at least one dose and 8.9 % are now fully vaccinated nationwide.
Fijians are reminded to check the Ministry’s vaccine dashboard to find real-time data on first-dose and second-dose numbers at the national, divisional and sub-divisional levels. You can access the live dashboard at
http://bit.ly/3h2JfCZ
Epidemic Outlook
The 7-day average of new cases per day has increased to 367 cases per day or 386 cases per million population per day. As expected, with the increasing cases numbers we are also seeing increasing numbers of people with severe disease, and more deaths in the Suva-Nausori containment zone.
It remains a serious concern that some people with severe disease come to a medical facility only in the late stages of their illness. And we are still sadly seeing people with severe disease die at home or on the way to hospital, before our medical teams have a chance to administer what could potentially be life saving treatment.
We need all Fijians to know the severe symptoms of COVID-19, which 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-coloured skin, lips or nail beds.
If you or a loved one have any of these symptoms please go immediately to your nearest medical facility.