All posts by superadmin

Vaccination 

As previously mentioned, given that dose one is beyond 95%, a verification exercise for dose one is ongoing which may result in minor changes. The dose one coverage rate has been adjusted today to reflect our verification process.

Transmission Update:  Since the last update, we have recorded a total of 53 new cases, of which 38 new cases were recorded on 14/10/2021 and 15 new cases in the last 24 hours ending at 8 am this morning.This epidemic curve depicts the daily positive cases since the 2nd wave of this outbreak began in April 2021. Overall, there have been 51, 632 cases recorded, with 71% of the cases from the Central Division, 27% of the cases from the Western Division, and 2% of the cases from the Eastern and Northern Division. Our National 7- day rolling average is 43 daily cases calculated for 11th October 2021.

Deaths:  Overall the death rate graphs for the Central and Western Divisions indicate a declining trend. The differences between the Central and Western are similar to the incidence of the daily cases and are likely a reflection of vaccination levels, COVID mitigation measures, and differences in population density.We have no COVID-19 deaths to report for today.There have been three deaths of  COVID-19 positive patients. However, these deaths have been classified as  Non-COVID-19 deaths by the doctors as the patients died of serious pre-existing medical conditions. There have been 663 deaths due to COVID-19 in Fiji, with 661 of these deaths during the outbreak that started in April this year. Please note that due to the time required by clinical teams to investigate, classify and report deaths, a 4-day interval is given to calculate the 7 days rolling average of deaths, based on the date of death, to help ensure the data collected is complete before the average is reported. Therefore, as of October 12th, the national 7 days rolling average of COVID-19 deaths per day is 0.1. The 7 days rolling average for COVID-19 deaths per day in the Central Division is 0.1 and 0.0 in the Western Division. We have also recorded 541 COVID-19 positive patients who died from serious medical conditions they had before they contracted COVID-19; these are not classified as COVID-19 deaths.

Epidemic Outlook:

The 7-day average of new cases per day is 39 cases per day or 49 cases per million population per day. As previously announced by the Permanent Secretary, the daily case numbers are currently not being used as the sole indicator to monitor the progress of the outbreak. The Ministry continues monitoring other indicators such as test positivity, hospitalisations, and deaths to track the progress of the outbreak, and it is noted that there is a downward trend across all indicators of the COVID-19 epidemic in Fiji.

With the reduction in testing numbers, which is above the WHO recommended rate of 4 tests per 1,000 population per week (or approx. 3,500 tests per week), we are transitioning community surveillance testing to containment phase levels.

The overall indications of the cases, hospitalization, and deaths data indicate a positive response to our overall COVID response with the epidemic in the west having a lower and delayed disease peak with lower cumulative numbers compared to the Central Division.

Public Advisory:

It has been 6 months since the outbreak started in Viti Levu. Within Viti Levu, the outbreak was limited to the Lami to Nausori containment area long enough to escalate vaccination and clinical response capacity outside the containment area. This contributed to a lower peak and the total number of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths outside the containment area within Viti Levu. In Vanua Levu, we have also succeeded in preventing community transmission long enough for eligible persons to get the opportunity to be vaccinated. We are now relaxing entry requirements into Vanua Levu with travelers getting more access to being able to quarantine at home and including rapid antigen tests in the pre-departure testing schedule. This will allow residents of Vanua Levu who have been stuck in Viti Levu for over 6 months, to return home. The new protocols for local repatriation travel to Vanua Levu will be uploaded on the Ministry of Health and Medical Services Website today. We also will be normalizing movement between Viti Levu and Vanua Levu once the second dose vaccine coverage in Vanua Levu is at an overall 80 percent of adults. The current coverage rates for the North are 91% for dose one and 70.4% for dose 2.

The Ministry of Health and Medical Services in preparation for easing of restrictions in the North has remodeled the health service provision to ensure:

1.   Strengthened quarantine capacity. We have a registration and pass issuance process that will facilitate our ability to maintain oversight over both home and facility-based quarantine.  Each traveler will be provided with the rules relating to quarantine and punitive measures will be applied if there is a verified breach in any of the quarantine conditions.
2.   Community surveillance through test trace and track protocols is being escalated to help us identify and contain any outbreak early.
3.   Registration and line listing of vulnerable persons especially in poorly vaccinated areas has been done;
4.   Preparations for the monitoring of positive cases and vulnerable persons to ensure better access to appropriate care plans has been made;
5.   Clinical care protocols for the severe disease has been reviewed and strengthened;

The Ministry of Health and Medical Services Communication team together with our multi-agency community engagement team are working with community leaders to identify and strengthen mechanisms that will facilitate the monitoring of vulnerable persons and persons with covid like symptoms and help encourage them toward timely engagement of health care services so that medical teams have a greater opportunity to provide timely treatment.

The easing of travel restrictions is needed to facilitate social and economic livelihood especially given that too many people have been stuck away from their homes since April this year. However, even with the precautions that have been put in place with this relaxation of the re-entry protocols, we do expect cases to occur in the community of the Northern Division with the movement of people from Viti Levu. The key is for this movement to be into a highly vaccinated population in the North as the vaccines are very good at preventing severe disease and death. The expectation is that the North will report cases in the community, but large numbers of people with severe disease will be prevented because of high vaccination coverage.

The people of the North are reminded that, together with vaccination, we must continue to closely observe our COVID safe measures and avoid contained spaces and crowds to avoid the risk of increased spread of the virus. The key to avoiding future restrictions and lockdowns is for the public to remain cautious about how they engage in the greater freedom they will enjoy.

Transmission Update: In the past 7 days, 163 cases were recorded in the central division, 211 new cases in the western division, and 17 new cases in the eastern division. The central division cases constitute 71% of the cumulative total cases nationally, with the western division making up 27% and 2% in the northern and eastern divisions.Since the last update, we have recorded 63 new cases on 12/10/2021 and 50 new cases in the last 24 hours ending at 8 am this morning. Our National 7- day rolling average is 44 daily cases calculated for 8th October 2021.The weekly incidence rate graph by division indicates a continually declining trend despite the lifting of the Lami to Nausori containment zones on the 17th of September 2021.  Furthermore, the peak weekly incidence in the western division was approximately a third of that in the central division, and the cumulative case numbers are also reflecting a similar difference.

Deaths: This curve depicts the weekly death rate per 1000 population by divisions since the 2nd wave of this outbreak began in April 2021. Overall the death rate graphs for the Central and Western Divisions indicate a declining trend. The differences between the Central and Western are similar to the incidence of the weekly cases and are likely a reflection of vaccination levels, COVID mitigation measures, and differences in population density.We have an additional ten COVID-19 deaths to report for the period of 7th July 2021- 12th October 2021. All deaths were reported from the Central Division. An analysis of the 10 deaths has highlighted that individuals were aged between 48 to 84 years, 60% (n=6) were females, 90% (n=9) of the individuals were admitted to the CWM Hospital and died as inpatients and 10% (n=1) died at home. 80 % (n=8) of these deaths were unvaccinated, the remaining 20% (n=2) received only one dose of the vaccine. This means that there were no deaths to individuals who were fully vaccinated. Nine of these deaths were reported from July today due to a delay in the issuance of the death certificates.There have been 663 deaths due to COVID-19 in Fiji, with 661 of these deaths during the outbreak that started in April this year. Please note that due to the time required by clinical teams to investigate, classify and report deaths, a 4-day interval is given to calculate the 7 days rolling average of deaths, based on the date of death, to help ensure the data collected is complete before the average is reported. Therefore, as of October 10th, the national 7 days rolling average of COVID-19 deaths per day is 0.1. The 7 days rolling average for COVID-19 deaths per day in the Central Division is 0.0 and 0.1 in the Western Division. We have recorded 537 COVID-19 positive patients who died from serious medical conditions they had before they contracted COVID-19; these are not classified as COVID-19 deaths.

Hospitalisation: The downward trend in both the new hospital admissions and total admissions in all hospitals admitting COVID-19 patients across the country is consistent with the cases and death trends. Even with the opening of Lami-Nausori containment zones in mid-September, the hospital admissions continue on a downward trend indicating the positive response to COVID mitigation measures, Population density differences, and differential Vaccination rates.

Testing:  1,372 tests have been reported for October 12th, 2021. The 7-day daily test average is 1011 tests per day or 1.1 tests per 1,000 population. The national 7-day average daily test positivity is 4.6%, which is on a downward trend, and below the WHO recommendation of 5%, and this is illustrated by the lab testing graph; also noting the reduction in the daily number of cases. Though we continue testing in high-risk areas, our case numbers and test positivity rate continue to decrease, indicating a better control of the community transmission in Fiji through the combined efforts of containment and mitigation measures with ongoing community surveillance.  We will continue to monitor the trend to better interpret the status of community transmission with other indicators.

Epidemic Outlook:

The 7-day average of new cases per day is 46 cases per day or 52 cases per million population per day. As previously announced by the Permanent Secretary, the daily case numbers are currently not being used as the sole indicator to monitor the progress of the outbreak. The Ministry continues monitoring other indicators such as test positivity, hospitalisations, and deaths to track the progress of the outbreak, and it is noted that there is a downward trend across all indicators of the COVID-19 epidemic in Fiji.

With the reduction in testing numbers, which is above the WHO recommended rate of 4 tests per 1,000 population per week (or approx. 3,500 tests per week), we will transition to community surveillance testing as severe disease numbers and positivity rates approach the containment phase levels.

The overall indications of the cases, hospitalization, and deaths data indicate a positive response to our overall COVID response with the epidemic in the west having a lower and delayed disease peak and lower cumulative numbers.

Public Advisory:

COVID-19 will be endemic in Fiji

Going forward, the Ministry of Health and Medical Services public health team will continue to monitor COVID-19 transmission and disease; and intervene when cases cross above acceptable levels. It is expected that in the short to medium term, unknown chains of transmission will persist in parts of Fiji and may not be picked up by our routine community surveillance program. They will only be revealed when an outbreak is big enough to be visible. Therefore, having no cases reported does not necessarily mean that the virus has been eliminated, it implies that the spread of the virus has been successfully contained. Further to community surveillance, remodeling health service provision is also a key strategy in our response.

The public is further reminded that while we have instigated several mandatory and punitive measures to promote adherence to COVID safe measures, public engagement and compliance remains the main determining factor to preventing further transmission and preventing the need for severe restrictions and lockdown.

As such whilst we are doing well with steady reductions in disease cases, admissions, severe disease, and death, this is a time for cautious reassurance and optimism.

Disease Surveillance for Maritime Communities

The indications from the Maritime islands that were affected by COVID-19 is that the situation is now under control. The Malolo and Yasawa community engagement initiative continues for another 10 days with civil servants from different Ministries helping to facilitate containment and vaccination efforts.  The Ministry is currently surveying other maritime communities and islands close to those maritime islands that are reporting cases of COVID-19. So far we have no report of outbreaks in other islands.

Local Repatriation Protocol

The Fiji Day announcements made on Sunday 10th October 2021, have indicated 2 major changes to the local repatriation protocol from Viti Levu to Vanua Levu.

1. The period of movement restriction within the quarantine program is now reduced to 7 days
2. The option for home quarantine will be made more available

Please note that this means that we still have a quarantine process in place that needs to be adhered to. To facilitate the oversight and testing logistics of this quarantine protocol, individuals traveling to the northern division are required to obtain a Repatriation Pass. This means that all repatriation travelers must be registered and issued with a Registration Reference Number for Domestic Repatriation. The registered applicants are those who have been registered for domestic repatriation on the toll-free number 163, MCTTT Facebook Page, or via email on domesticrepat@mcttt.gov.fj. Travelers must obtain a Pass before purchasing their tickets to travel and board a vessel or aircraft. All passes will be issued by MHMS through the Office of the Commissioners (Central and Eastern Divisions). Further inquiries on how to obtain a Repatriation Pass can be made on the toll-free number 158 COVID helpline, the contact number 3475190 which will be active from 8 am to 9 pm daily, or through the emails ccdrepat@gmail.com or covidpassmoh@gmail.com.

Transmission Update: We have 36 new cases of COVID-19 to report for the 24 hour period that ended at 8 am today, out of which 72% of the new cases are from the Western Division, while 28% of the new cases are from the Central Division. This epidemic curve depicts the daily positive cases since the 2nd wave of this outbreak began in April 2021. Overall, there have been 51, 465 cases recorded, with 71% of the cases from the Central Division, 27% of the cases from the Western Division, and 2% of the cases from the Eastern and Northern Division. Our National 7- day rolling average is 54 daily cases calculated for 7th October 2021.

Deaths: We have no COVID-19 deaths to report for today. There has been one death of a COVID-19 positive patient. However, this death has been classified as a Non-COVID-19 death by the doctors as the patient died of a serious pre-existing medical condition.. There have been 653 deaths due to COVID-19 in Fiji, with 651 of these deaths during the outbreak that started in April this year. Please note that due to the time required by clinical teams to investigate, classify and report deaths, a 4-day interval is given to calculate the 7 days rolling average of deaths, based on the date of death, to help ensure the data collected is complete before the average is reported. Therefore, as of October 8th, the national 7 days rolling average of COVID-19 deaths per day is 0.1. The 7 days rolling average for COVID-19 deaths per day in the Central Division is 0.1 and 0.0 in the Western Division. We have also recorded 534 COVID-19 positive patients who died from the serious medical conditions they had before they contracted COVID-19; these are not classified as COVID-19 deaths.

Epidemic Outlook:
The 7-day average of new cases per day is 44 cases per day or 50 cases per million population per day. As previously announced by the Permanent Secretary, the daily case numbers are currently not being used as the sole indicator to monitor the progress of the outbreak. The Ministry continues monitoring other indicators such as test positivity, hospitalisations, and deaths to track the progress of the outbreak, and it is noted that there is a downward trend across all indicators of the COVID-19 epidemic in Fiji.

With the reduction in testing numbers, which is above the WHO recommended rate of 4 tests per 1,000 population per week (or approx. 3,500 tests per week), we will transition to community surveillance testing as severe disease numbers and positivity rates approach the containment phase levels.

Public Advisory:

Disease Surveillance for Maritime Communities

The indications from the Maritime islands that were affected by COVID-19 is that the situation is now under control. The Lautoka Yasawa community engagement initiative continues for another 10 days with civil servants from different Ministries helping to facilitate containment and vaccination efforts.  The Ministry is currently surveying other maritime communities and islands close to those maritime islands that are reporting cases of COVID-19. So far we have no report of outbreaks in other islands.

Local Repatriation Protocol

The Fiji Day announcements made on Sunday night have indicated 2 major changes to the local repatriation protocol from Viti Levu to Vanua Levu.

1.     The period of movement restriction within the quarantine program is now reduced to 7 days
2.     The option for home quarantine will be made more available

Please note that this means that we still have a quarantine process in place that needs to be adhered to. To facilitate the oversight and testing logistics of this quarantine protocol we will still need individuals to get a Repatriation Pass. This requires that all repatriation travelers must be registered and issued with a Registration Reference Number for Domestic Repatriation. The registered applicants are those that have been registered for domestic repatriation on #163, MCTTT Facebook Page, and via email on domesticrepat@mcttt.gov.fj. Travelers must obtain a Pass before purchasing their tickets to travel and board a vessel or aircraft. All passes will be issued by MHMS through the Office of the Commissioners (Central and Eastern Divisions). Further inquiries on obtaining a Pass can be made on the 158 covid helpline, the contact number 3475190  which will be active from 8 am to 9 pm daily or through the emails ccdrepat@gmail.com or covidpassmoh@gmail.com.

Media Release

COVID-19 Daily Update

Saturday 10^th October 2021

Transmission Update

We have 16 new cases of COVID-19 to report for the 24 hour period that ended at 8 am today.

There have been 62 new recoveries to report since the last update, which means that there are now 2,636 active cases. There have been 51,429 cases during the outbreak that started in April 2021. We have recorded a total of 51,499 cases in Fiji since the first case was reported in March 2020, with 47,677 recoveries.

We are currently reviewing and reconciling our active case database with deaths and recoveries and as a result, we expect the death and recovery numbers to intermittently change as verifications are made.

Deaths

We have no COVID-19 deaths to report today.

There have been 3 deaths of COVID-19 positive patients. However, these deaths have been classified as Non-COVID-19 deaths by the doctors. The doctors have determined that these deaths have been caused by a serious pre-existing medical condition and not COVID-19.

There have been 653 deaths due to COVID-19 in Fiji, with 651 of these deaths during the outbreak that started in April this year. Please note that due to the time required by clinical teams to investigate, classify and report deaths, a 4-day interval is given to calculate the 7 days rolling average of deaths, based on the date of death, to help ensure the data collected is complete before the average is reported. Therefore, as of October 7th, the national 7 days rolling average of COVID-19 deaths per day is 0.8. The 7 days rolling average for COVID-19 deaths per day in the Central Division is 0.7 and 0.1 in the Western Division.

We have also recorded 533 COVID-19 positive patients who died from the serious medical conditions they had before they contracted COVID-19; these are not classified as COVID-19 deaths.

Hospitalisations

There are currently 48 COVID-19 patients admitted to the hospital. 29 patients are admitted at the Lautoka Hospital and 19 are admitted at CWM hospital, St Giles, and Makoi. 3 patients are considered to be in severe condition, and 3 are in critical condition.

Screening Update

A total of 461 individuals were screened and 74 swabbed at our stationary screening clinics in the last 24 hours, bringing our cumulative total to 753,309 individuals screened and 105,416 swabbed to date. Our mobile screening teams screened a total of 68 individuals and swabbed a total of 68 over the last 24 hours. This brings our cumulative total to 856,388 individuals screened and 77,974 swabbed by our mobile teams.

Testing Update

A total of 379,155 samples have been tested since this outbreak started in April 2021, with 422,016 tested since testing began in March 2020. 567 tests have been reported for October 9th, 2021. The 7-day daily test average is 976 tests per day or 1.1 tests per 1,000 population. Weekly testing is at 7.5 tests per 1000 population, which remains above the WHO recommended level of 4 tests per 1000 population per week. The national 7-day average daily test positivity is 4.4%, which is on a downward trend, and below the WHO recommendation of 5%. We will continue to monitor the trend to better interpret the status of community transmission with other indicators.

Vaccination Update

A total of 594,872 adults in Fiji have received their first dose of the vaccine and 496,091 have received their second doses. Based on our updated total population of 618,173 people aged 18 years and over (adults), the vaccination coverage rates are 96.2% for adults who have received at least one dose, and 80.3% are now fully vaccinated nationwide. Please do note that since dose one is beyond 95%, a verification exercise for dose one is ongoing which may result in minor changes.

As for children, 25,457 children in Fiji have received their first dose of the vaccine as of 09/10/2021. We will be tracking our vaccine coverage rates once we have firmed up our 15 to 17-year-olds age group denominator.

For persons who are currently ill or have valid reasons for delaying their vaccination, we request you to apply for possible temporary exemptions through covidexemptionreq@gmail.com.

Epidemic Outlook

The 7-day average of new cases per day is 42 cases per day or 48 cases per million population per day. As previously announced by the Permanent Secretary, the daily case numbers are currently not being used as the sole indicator to monitor the progress of the outbreak. The Ministry is closely monitoring other indicators such as test positivity, hospitalisations, and deaths to track the progress of the outbreak.

With the decrease in testing numbers, our testing remains above the WHO recommended rate of 4 tests per 1,000 population per week (or approx. 3,500 tests per week). We will be transitioning to community surveillance testing as severe disease numbers and positivity rates approach the containment phase levels.

Maritime Update

No new case was reported on Malolo Island in the last 24 hours. Of the total of 89 cases, 78 have recovered, and 11 remain active. Daily monitoring continues for the active cases and their contacts.  Vaccination of the villagers and distribution of food rations continue for the affected families. Movement restrictions remain in place.

No new case was recorded on Naviti Island in the last 24 hours. Of the 181 cases, 179 have recovered and 2 remain active. Daily monitoring of cases and their contacts by the health team continues. The villages on the island remain under strict movement restrictions.

No new case was recorded on Waya Island in the last 24 hours. Of the 51 cases on the island, there are 31 recoveries now with 20 cases remaining active and under daily monitoring by the health team. Vaccination of adults continues and the island remains on movement restriction.

No new case was recorded in the Nacula Medical Area in the last 24 hours. Of the 172 cases in the medical area, 57 have recovered, and 115 remain active. The active cases are isolated in their respective villages and are monitored daily by the health teams from the respective medical areas. Movement restrictions remain in force for the islands.

No new case was recorded on Beqa Island in the last 24 hours. Of the 253 cases on the island, 247 cases have now been recovered and 5 cases remain active. Risk assessment revealed that 1 active case is in the moderate-risk category and 4 in the low category. Vaccination continues in Naceva, Naseuseu, Rukua, Raviravi and Yanuca. Movement restriction remains in force for Yanuca Island with discontinuation of travel from Yanuca Island to Viti Levu on day 14 of 14 days.

One new case was recorded on Kadavu Island in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases to 588 cases. Of these, 557 cases have recovered and the remaining 31 active cases are under daily monitoring by the health team. Risk assessment revealed that 7 active cases are in the high-risk category and 24 in the low category. Three patients are currently admitted at Vunisea hospital, are COVID positive, and are currently in stable condition. Vaccination continues by the Kadavu health teams. Movement restrictions remain in force supervised by the Police team and the Vanua.

Public Updates and Advice:

As many more people become vaccinated and maintain the COVID discipline and practice every day (when out of home, mask up if you walk into any indoor setting, when using public transport and when in crowded outdoor spaces), then disease spread in the community is slower and easier to control. We continue to simplify our patient care plans so those recovering at home get the appropriate care, while those needing more escalated care are identified early and moved to get the appropriate treatment in a timely manner. All deaths and severe diseases are a tragedy, but they can be prevented.

While Fiji has recorded a cumulative deaths per million population rate of 723.23, many more countries have recorded a higher deaths per million (cumulative) rate than us, which includes the USA, UK, Israel, many EU countries, and other Small Island Developing States. This is a clear indication to all the front-liners, and those in the community who supported them in this battle, and members of our community who adhered to our COVID safe protocols, that we have made and are making a difference. Our goal was to hold off the virus from our communities long enough for everyone to get protected by the vaccine. While we have lost loved ones, and people we hold dear, we have also prevented many more from catching the virus and dying from the disease in our communities, based on what we have witnessed around the world. The entirety of our actions, right from the beginning of the pandemic, made a difference.

This has been a long hard fight and it is not over yet. But we are on the right track and steadily progressing towards the new normal. Occasionally we will need to put in measures to protect our health system but as time goes on, we will gain more immunity to the virus. As one of the fastest fully vaccinated countries in the world, we have shown that we can do this together. It might take some months yet to reach the new normal but with everyone’s help, we will soon put the worst of COVID-19 behind us.