Media Release
COVID-19 Daily Update
Wednesday 14th July 2021
Transmission Update
We have 634 new cases of COVID-19 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.
We also have 10 new COVID-19 deaths to report for the period of 9th July to 14th July.
The first COVID-19 death to report is a 65 year old woman from Naibitu Village who died at home on 9/7/2021. She received her 1st dose of the vaccine in mid-June. She had not received the second dose of the vaccine and was not fully vaccinated.
The second COVID-19 death to report is a 62 year old man from Cautata Village. He presented to a medical facility in severe respiratory distress. His condition worsened at the health facility and he died on the same day (10/7/2021). He was not vaccinated.
The third COVID-19 death to report is an 80 year old man from Suva who died at home on the 10/7/2021. His family reported that he was feeling unwell with shortness of breath. He was not vaccinated.
The fourth COVID-19 death to report is a 92 year old man from Kinoya who died at home on 11/7/2021. His family reported that he reported of generalized weakness and a reduced appetite 3 days prior. He was not vaccinated.
The fifth COVID-19 death to report is a 71 year old woman from Suva. She presented to a health centre with severe COVID-19 symptoms and was transferred to the CWM Hospital. Her condition worsened in the hospital and she died 2 days after her admission on 11/7/2021. She was not vaccinated.
The sixth COVID-19 death to report today is a 62 year old woman from Makoi who died at home on 11/07/2021. Her family reported that she had a cough, fever and shortness of breath for a few days. She was not vaccinated.
The seventh COVID-19 death to report is a 59 year old man from Nadera who died at home on 12/07/2021. His family reported that he had a cough, shortness of breath and a reduced appetite. He was not vaccinated.
The eighth COVID-19 death to report is a 63 year old woman from Nasinu. She presented to the CWM Hospital in severe respiratory distress and died one day after admission on 13/07/2021. She was not vaccinated.
The ninth COVID-19 death to report is a 58 year old woman from Nadera. She presented to the CWM Hospital in severe respiratory distress and died 10 days after admission on 13/07/2021. She was not vaccinated.
The tenth COVID-19 death to report is a 42 year old woman from Tacirua. A Medical Response team retrieved her from home and transferred her to a medical facility. She was noted to be in severe respiratory distress. She died in the medical facility on the same day (14/7/2021). She received her 1st stdose of the vaccine at the end of June. She had not received the second dose of the vaccine and was not fully vaccinated.
There have been two more deaths of COVID-19 positive patients. However, their deaths have been classified as non-COVID deaths by their doctors. Doctors have determined that these deaths were caused by serious pre-existing medical conditions and not COVID-19.
There have now been 69 deaths due to COVID-19 in Fiji, with 67 of these deaths during the outbreak that started in April this year. We also have recorded 29 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 314 new recoveries reported since the last update, which means that there are now 10,033 active cases. There have been 12,596 cases during the outbreak that started in April 2021. We have recorded a total of 12,666 cases in Fiji since the first case was reported in March 2020, with 2,535 recoveries.
Screening Update
A total of 5,083 individuals were screened and 1,866 swabbed at our stationary screening clinics in the last 24 hours, bringing our cumulative total to 295,786 individuals screened and 48,425 swabbed to date. Our mobile screening teams screened a total of 3,279 individuals and swabbed 377 in the last 24 hours. This brings our cumulative total to 704,328 individuals screened and 59,880 swabbed by our mobile teams to date.
Testing update
A total of 208,343 samples have been tested since this outbreak started in April 2021, with 251,204 tested since testing began in early 2020. 3313 tests have been reported for July 12th. Testing number data for all labs until July 12th has now been received, except for one lab which is yet to update data from the 9th of July. Based on available testing numbers, the national 7-day daily test average is 3889 tests per day or 4.4 tests per 1,000 population. The national 7-day average daily test positivity is 18% and continues on an upward trend.
Vaccination Update
As of the 13th July 370,219 adults in Fiji have received their first dose of the vaccine and 70,917 have received their second doses. This means that 63.1% of the target population have received at least one dose and 12.1 % 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 675 cases per day or 763 cases per million population per day.
Advice to the public
Sadly, 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.
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 or call 165 if unable to get to a medical facility.
