We have 873 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 will be published online tonight on the Ministry’s COVID-19 dashboard and on the Fijian Government Facebook page. You will also be able to view the approximate locations of the new cases on the dashboard tomorrow at the following link:
http://bit.ly/3vE2ZBb.
The first COVID-19 death we are reporting today is a 56 year old woman from Vatuwaqa who died at home. Her family reported that she had been feeling unwell for 1 week. She received her 1st dose of the vaccine in early July. She had not received the second dose of the vaccine and was not fully vaccinated.
The second COVID-19 death is a 87 year old woman from Nasinu. She presented to the FEMAT field hospital in severe respiratory distress. Her condition worsened at the FEMAT field hospital and she died 2 days after admission. Her family reported that she was feeling unwell with cough and fever prior to her presentation. She was not vaccinated.
The case that was previously under investigation has now been classified as a COVID-19 death. This is a 15 year old from Colo-I-Suva who was declared dead on arrival by the attending medical officer at the Raiwaqa Health Center. This means that she either died at home or on her way to the health facility. Her family reported that she had been feeling unwell for 2 days. Her symptoms included a cough, shortness of breath and chest pain. She was not vaccinated; she was not in the target population of people 18 years and over that are eligible to receive the vaccine.
There have been five more deaths of COVID-19 positive patients. However, these deaths have been classified as non-COVID deaths by doctors. Doctors have determined that their deaths were caused by serious pre-existing medical conditions and not COVID-19.
There have now been 58 deaths due to COVID-19 in Fiji, with 56 of these deaths during the outbreak that started in April this year. We also have recorded 26 COVID-19 positive patients who died from the serious medical conditions that they had before they contracted COVID-19; these are not classified as COVID-19 deaths.
There have been 132 new recoveries reported since the last update, which means that there are now 9,310 active cases. There have been 11,315 cases during the outbreak that started in April 2021. We have recorded a total of 11,385 cases in Fiji since the first case was reported in March 2020, with 1,991 recoveries.
Screening Update
A total of 1,421 individuals were screened and 791 swabbed at our stationary screening clinics in the last 24 hours, bringing our cumulative total to 283,504 individuals screened and 44,349 swabbed to date. Our mobile screening teams screened a total of 2,315 individuals and swabbed 339 in the last 24 hours. This brings our cumulative total to 696,631 individuals screened and 58,617 swabbed by our mobile teams to date.
Testing update
Testing data will be updated in the next daily statement as testing number data from the laboratories is still being received.
Vaccination Update
As of the 11th July 353,355 adults in Fiji have received their first dose of the vaccine and 66,643 have received their second doses. This means that 60.2 % of the target population have received at least one dose and 11.4 % are now fully vaccinated nationwide.
Fijians can 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 is 696 cases per day or 787 cases per million population per day. With daily increases in cases we are also seeing increasing cases of severe COVID-19 and increasing deaths.
Advice to the public
With increasing daily cases, hospitalisations, and deaths, we are asking all Fijians to get vaccinated as soon as possible. We also urge our fellow citizens to continue taking all COVID-19 safety measures. Remember to correctly wear your mask, wash or sanitize hands frequently, download and utilise the careFIJI application, visit a screening clinic if you and any of your family members experience the signs and symptoms of COVID-19 and maintain social distancing measures.