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Media Release

COVID-19 Daily Update

Wednesday, 11 August 2021

Transmission Update

We have 568 new cases of COVID-19 to report for the 24 hour period that ended at 8 am today. 262 cases are from the Western Division and 306 cases are from the Central Division. 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 new cases, active cases, and recovered cases on the dashboard at the following link: http://bit.ly/3vE2ZBb.

There have been 664 new recoveries reported since the last update, which means that there are now 24,299 active cases. 18,566 active cases are in the Central Division and 5,733 active cases in the Western Division. All cases that were recorded in the Northern and Eastern Divisions (cases that were imported from Viti Levu) have recovered and there are no active cases currently in those divisions.

There have been 38,344 cases during the outbreak that started in April 2021. We have recorded a total of 38,414 cases in Fiji since the first case was reported in March 2020, with 13,598 recoveries.

Deaths

We have 13 new COVID-19 deaths to report tonight.  Six deaths were reported from the Central Division and seven deaths were reported from the Western Division.

The first COVID-19 death to report is a 41-year-old man from Sigatoka. He presented to the Sigatoka Sub-divisional Hospital on 04/08/2021 in severe respiratory distress. His family reported that he had a cough, fever, and shortness of breath for six days. He was retrieved from the Sigatoka Sub-divisional Hospital and brought to the Lautoka Hospital on the same day, where he tested positive for COVID-19. He died four days after admission on 08/08/2021. He received the first dose of the vaccine in mid-April. He received the second dose on 29/07/20201. However, as he had symptoms of COVID-19 before or shortly after he received the 2nd dose- it is clear that he was infected with the virus before getting the 2nd dose of the vaccine. Therefore, this person was not fully vaccinated when he got infected. A person must have two doses of the vaccine and wait at least two weeks after the second dose to be considered fully vaccinated and to get the full protective effect of the vaccine.

The second COVID-19 death to report is an 86 year old woman from Tamavua. She presented to the CWM hospital in severe respiratory distress and tested positive for COVID-19 on 05/08/21. She died 3 days after admission on 08/08/2021. She received her 1st dose in late May. She received the second dose on 26/07/2021. However, as she got sick with COVID-19 less than 2 weeks after receiving the second dose, she was not fully vaccinated when she got infected with the virus.  A person must have two doses of the vaccine and wait at least two weeks after the second dose to be considered fully vaccinated and to get the full protective effect of the vaccine.

The third COVID-19 death to report is a 25-year-old woman from Lautoka. She presented to the Lautoka Hospital on 06/08/2021 in severe respiratory distress. Her family reported that she had a cough, sore throat, and shortness of breath one week prior to her presentation to the hospital. Sadly, she died two days after admission on 08/08/2021. She received the first dose of the vaccine in early June. She received the second dose on 30/07/2021. However, as she had symptoms of COVID-19 before or shortly after she received the 2nd dose, it is clear that she was infected with the virus before getting the 2nd dose of the vaccine. Therefore, this person was not fully vaccinated when she got infected with the virus. A person must have two doses of the vaccine and wait at least two weeks after the second dose to be considered fully vaccinated and to get the full protective effect of the vaccine.

The fourth COVID-19 death to report is a 39-year-old man from Lami who presented to the FEMAT field hospital in severe respiratory distress. He died on the same day of admission (08/07/2021). He was not vaccinated.

The fifth COVID-19 death to report is an 88-year-old woman from Lami who died at home on 10/08/2021. She received the 1st dose of the vaccine in late July. She did not receive the second dose of the vaccine. This means that she was not fully vaccinated.

The sixth COVID-19 death to report is an 88-year-old man from Ba. He presented to the Ba Mission Hospital in severe respiratory distress. He died one day after admission on 10/08/2021. He was not vaccinated.

The seventh COVID-19 death to report is an 86 year old woman from Ba. She was declared dead on arrival by the attending medical officer at the Ba Mission Hospital on 07/08/2021. This means that she died at home or on her way to the hospital. She was not vaccinated.

The eighth COVID-19 death to report is a 60-year-old woman from Ba. She was declared dead on arrival by the attending medical officer at the Ba Mission Hospital on 08/08/2021. This means that she died at home or on her way to the hospital. She was not vaccinated.

The ninth COVID-19 death to report is an 82-year-old man from Sigatoka. He was declared dead on arrival by the attending medical officer at the Sigatoka Sub-Divisional Hospital on 07/08/2021. This means that he died at home or on his way to the hospital. He was not vaccinated.

The tenth COVID-19 death to report is an 84-year-old man from Sigatoka. He was declared dead on arrival by the attending medical officer at the Sigatoka Sub-Divisional Hospital on 08/08/2021. This means that he died at home or on his way to the hospital. He was not vaccinated.

The eleventh COVID-19 death to report is a 56-year-old man from Nasinu who died at home on 10/08/2021. He was not vaccinated.

The twelfth COVID-19 death to report is a 57-year-old man from Nasinu who died at home on 10/08/2021. He was not vaccinated.

The thirteenth COVID-19 death to report is a 77-year-old man from Nausori. He presented to the CWM hospital in severe respiratory distress. He died 6 days after admission. He was not vaccinated.

There have been 6 more deaths of COVID-19 positive patients. However, these deaths have been classified as non-COVID deaths by their doctors. Doctors have determined that their deaths were caused by serious pre-existing medical conditions and not COVID-19.

With today’s newly reported deaths, there have now been 340 deaths due to COVID-19 in Fiji, with 338 of these deaths during the outbreak that started in April this year. The national 7 day rolling average of COVID-19 deaths per day is 7.  The 7 day rolling average of COVID-19 deaths per day in the Central Division is 5 deaths and the Western Division is 2 deaths. We also have recorded 177 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.

To date, no one in Fiji has died due to COVID-19 after they have been fully vaccinated.

Hospitalizations

There are currently 300 COVID-19 patients admitted to the hospital. 70 patients are admitted to the Lautoka Hospital, 68 patients are admitted at the FEMAT field hospital, and 162 were admitted at CWM hospital, St Giles, and Makoi. 62 patients are considered to be in severe condition, and 12 are in critical condition.

Screening Update

A total of 6,114 individuals were screened and 776 swabbed at our stationary screening clinics in the last 24 hours, bringing our cumulative total to 438,288 individuals screened and 77,238 swabbed to date. As of the 10th August, our mobile screening teams screened a total of 1,812 individuals and swabbed 116. This brings our cumulative total to 785,521 individuals screened and 69,322 swabbed by our mobile teams.

Testing update

A total of 299,389 samples have been tested since this outbreak started in April 2021, with 342,250 tested since testing began in March 2020. 1588 tests have been reported for August 9th. The 7-day daily test average is 2215 tests per day or 2.5 tests per 1,000 population. The national 7-day average daily test positivity is 34.5%.

Vaccination Update

As of the 10th of August, 523,285 adults in Fiji have received their first dose of the vaccine and 196,873 have received their second doses. This means that 89.2% of the target population have received at least one dose and 33.6% 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 642 cases per day or 726 cases per million population per day. We have noted a drop in cases reported per day recently. However, our daily testing numbers have also been dropping around the same time, due to the change in testing policy in Suva-Nausori. As announced on July 21st by the Permanent Secretary, only persons that have a higher risk of developing severe COVID-19 are being targeted for testing in Suva-Nausori. This was done so that resources could be targeted to early detection, monitoring and care of persons with COVID-19 who are at higher risk of severe disease, to prevent more people succumbing to severe disease and death.

We are likely seeing the effect of this testing policy change now in Suva-Nausori with the drop in daily reported cases. This does not mean that the outbreak is on a downward trend in the Suva-Nausori community. As previously announced by the Permanent Secretary, daily case numbers in Suva-Nausori are currently not being used as an indicator to monitor the progress of the outbreak in Suva-Nausori. The Ministry is closely monitoring other indicators such as test positivity, hospitalizations, and deaths to track the progress of the outbreak in Suva-Nausori. Test positivity in Suva-Nausori was between 40-50% before the change in testing policy and has remained at this high level, which is above the national average. This is one indicator of the continuing high level of community transmission in this area.

Testing levels in the Western Division remain consistently high with 3.8-4 tests per 1000 population per day at a 7-day average. We are seeing increasing cases reported in the Western Division with evidence of widespread community transmission in that division.  We are also recording increasing numbers of people with severe disease and deaths in the West. The Northern and Eastern Divisions currently have no active cases.

Advice to the public

People with severe COVID-19 are still dying at home, or they are coming to a medical facility in the late stages of severe illness. Severe COVID-19 is a medical emergency, and a delay in receiving appropriate medical treatment reduces your chance of recovering from the disease. You are at higher risk of developing severe COVID-19 if you are over the age of 50 or have a non-communicable disease or chronic disease like diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, kidney disease, or if you are obese or pregnant. If you are at high risk of severe disease and have any symptoms of COVID-19 such as a cough, runny nose, fever, sore throat, body ache, headache, loss of taste/smell – please come to your nearest screening clinic to be checked and tested by our medical teams.

We need also need all Fijians to know the severe symptoms of COVID-19, which include the following:

  • Difficulty breathing
  • Persistent pain or pressure in the chest
  • Severe headache for a few days
  • New confusion, inability to wake or stay awake
  • Pale, gray, or blue-colored skin, lips, or nail beds

In Suva-Nausori we have identified health facilities specifically designated to receive people with symptoms of severe COVID-19. If you or a loved one live in Suva-Nausori and have any of these severe symptoms please go immediately to the designated health facilities listed below.

  • Colonial War Memorial Hospital (CWMH)
  • FEMAT Hospital, Vodafone Arena

Individuals in Nausori with severe symptoms should go to:

  • Nausori Health Centre
  • Wainibokasi Hospital

In the Western Division,  please go to your nearest healthcare facility if you have any symptoms of COVID-19.

Call 165 if you are unable to travel to a medical facility. 

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