Last Updated on 3 years by Publishing Team
Media Release
COVID-19 Update
Saturday, 03rd July 2021
Transmission Update
We have 386 new cases of COVID-19 and 2 COVID-19 deaths to report for the 24 hour period that ended at 8 am today. Five of the new cases are contacts of cases who are undergoing 14 days of quarantine in quarantine facilities in Nadi. The rest of the cases are from the Suva-Nausori containment zone. 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 the new cases at the following link: http://bit.ly/3vE2ZBb.
The first death from COVID-19 is a 66-year-old woman from Valelevu who was declared dead on arrival by doctors at the emergency department at CWM Hospital. This means she died at home or on the way to the hospital. Her family reported that she had been feeling unwell at home for a few days. She was not vaccinated.
The second death was reported yesterday as being under investigation to determine if the cause of death was COVID-19. This was a 24-year-old woman from Wainibokasi admitted at the CWM Hospital for treatment of a serious non-COVID-related medical condition and later tested positive in hospital. After investigation, her doctors have determined that her death was caused by COVID-19 and not the prior medical condition. She was not vaccinated.
The death of another person who tested positive for COVID-19 is also currently under investigation to determine if COVID-19 was the cause of death.
There have now been 27 deaths due to COVID-19 in Fiji, with 25 of these deaths during the outbreak that started in April this year. We also have recorded 12 COVID-19 positive patients who died from the serious medical conditions that they had before they contracted COVID-19. 3 deaths are under investigation to determine the cause of death.
There have been 131 new recoveries reported since the last update, which means that there are now 4,496 active cases in isolation. There have been 5569 cases during the outbreak that started in April 2021. We have recorded a total of 5639 cases in Fiji since the first case was reported in March 2020, with 1101 recoveries.
Screening Update
A total of 5816 individuals were screened and 1050 swabbed at our stationary screening clinics in the last 24 hours, bringing our cumulative total to 240,181 individuals screened and 33,317 swabbed to date. Our mobile screening teams screened a total of 2,088 individuals and swabbed 472 in the last 24 hours. This brings our cumulative total to 671,037 individuals screened and 55,088 swabbed by our mobile teams to date.
Testing update
A total of 166,501 samples have been tested since this outbreak started in April 2021, with 209,362 tested since testing began in early 2020. 3240 tests have been reported for 1st July. This number is expected to increase as recent testing numbers from one laboratory have not yet been received. The national 7-day daily test average is 3,055 tests per day or 3.5 tests per 1,000 population. The national 7-day average daily test positivity is 10.2% and continues on an upward trend.
Vaccination Update
To date, 315,898 adults in Fiji have received their first dose of the vaccine and 51,408 have received their second doses. This means that 54% of the target population has received at least one dose and 8.8 % 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 330 cases per day or 373 cases per million population per day. As expected, with the increasing case numbers we are also seeing increasing numbers of people with severe disease and more deaths in the Suva-Nausori containment zone.
Of great concern is the people with severe disease that come to a medical facility in the late stages of their illness. And we are also sadly seeing people with severe diseases die at home or on the way to the hospital before our medical teams have a chance to administer what could potentially be a 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-colored skin, lips, or nail beds.
If you or a loved one have any of these symptoms please go immediately to your nearest medical facility