Media Release
COVID-19 Daily Update
Sunday 11th July 2021
Transmission Update
We have 485 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 77 year old woman from Colo-I-Suva who died at home. Her family reported that she had been feeling unwell for 3 days. She was not vaccinated.
The second COVID-19 death is a 75 year old man from Nabua who died at home. His family reported that he was feeling unwell for 3 days. He was noted to have a reduced appetite and generalized weakness. He was not vaccinated.
The third COVID-19 death is a 38 year old woman from Nakasi. A Ministry response team attended to her at a medical facility and transferred her to the CWM Hospital after she reported having severe symptoms of COVID-19. Her condition worsened in hospital and she died 4 days after admission. She was not vaccinated.
There have now been 55 deaths due to COVID-19 in Fiji, with 53 of these deaths during the outbreak that started in April this year. We also have recorded 21 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. 1 death of a COVID-19 positive patient remains under investigation. As of the 9th July the 7-day rolling average of deaths per day is 3.
There have been 162 new recoveries reported since the last update, which means that there are now 8,576 active cases. There have been 10,442 cases during the outbreak that started in April 2021. We have recorded a total of 10,512 cases in Fiji since the first case was reported in March 2020, with 1,859 recoveries.
Screening Update
A total of 4,127 individuals were screened and 913 swabbed at our stationary screening clinics in the last 24 hours, bringing our cumulative total to 282,083 individuals screened and 43,558 swabbed to date. Our mobile screening teams screened a total of 4,113 individuals and swabbed 418 in the last 24 hours. This brings our cumulative total to 694,316 individuals screened and 58,278 swabbed by our mobile teams to date.
Testing update
195,695 samples have been tested since this outbreak started in April 2021, with 238,520 tested since testing began in early 2020. 3123 tests have been reported for July 9th. Testing number data for all labs for July 9th are still being received and so the testing number is expected to increase once updated. We are still receiving testing number data from all labs for July 8th and 9th, and those total test numbers will increase once updated. The national 7-day daily test average is 3604 tests per day or 4.1 tests per 1,000 population. The national 7-day average daily test positivity is 17.4% and continues on an upward trend.
Vaccination Update
As of the 10th July 353,303 adults in Fiji have received their first dose of the vaccine and 66,635 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 622 cases per day or 702 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. Getting fully vaccinated, with 2 doses of the vaccine, will decrease your risk of getting infected with the virus. But most importantly, getting fully vaccinated will significantly reduce your risk of getting severe COVID-19, even if you do get infected. None of the people who have died from COVID-19 in Fiji have been fully vaccinated. And we know from data from the United Kingdom that the Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine reduces the risk of hospitalization from the Delta variant by 92%. Vaccination locations are published daily on the Ministry’s website, social media, and in the daily newspapers.