Deaths in children from COVID-19 in Fiji has increased to three after a 15-year-old girl from Tavua died this week from severe coronavirus infection and leptospirosis.
She is the second teenager to have died from severe coronavirus infection within a month following the death of another 15-year-old from Colo-i-Suva and within a week of the announcement of the death of an 11-month-old boy who is also Fiji’s youngest COVID-19 victim.
The Tavua teenager reportedly had a fever, cough and shortness of breath for two days before she was taken to a health centre after which she was transferred to Lautoka Hospital. She died three days ago.
Her death was one of 11 new deaths announced last night, the other victims between the ages of 51 and 90, only of whom was partially vaccinated.
In an article by Mai TV this week, an epidemiologist said that COVID-19 infections among children are rare but are bound to happen when the transmission is high. In Fiji, total coronavirus infections since April has grown to 34,818 after 968 new cases were announced last night.
Transmission Update
Of the 968 new cases, 292 are from the West, and 676 are from the central division.
There have been 385 new recoveries reported since the last update, which means that there are now 23,226 active cases. 18,589 active cases are in the central division and 4,637 in the West.
Fiji has had a total of 34,888 cases in Fiji since the first case was reported in March 2020. Total recoveries stand at 11,233.
Deaths
Of the other 10 new COVID-19 deaths announced last night for the period of 2 August – 5 August, seven died at home.
- 60-year-old man, Lami
- Died at home on 4 August.
- He was not vaccinated.
- 51-year-old woman, Raiwaqa
- Died at home on 4 August.
- She was not vaccinated.
- 85-year-old man, Lautoka.
- Declared dead on arrival at Lautoka Hospital.
- He was not vaccinated.
- 88-year-old man, Sigatoka.
- Declared dead on arrival at the Sigatoka Hospital.
- He was not vaccinated.
- 86 year old man, Toorak
- Presented to the CWM Hospital in severe respiratory distress.
- He died on the same day – 4 August.
- He was partially vaccinated, having received the first dose of the vaccine in early June.
- 85-year-old woman, Tailevu
- Died at home on 2 August.
- She was not vaccinated.
- 55-year-old man, Tailevu
- Died at home on 2 August.
- He was not vaccinated.
- 70-year-old woman, Tailevu
- Died at home on 2 August.
- She was not vaccinated.
- 90-year-old man, Raiwai
- Died at home on 5 August.
- He was not vaccinated.
- 85-year-old man, Naitasiri
- Died at home on 4 August.
- He was not vaccinated.
There have been four more deaths of COVID-19 positive patients. However, their deaths have been classified as non-COVID deaths by their doctors.
Total COVID-19 deaths during the outbreak stand at 281. The 7-day rolling average of COVID-19 deaths per day is 6. We also have recorded 146 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.
Screening Update
A total of 5,604 individuals were screened and 636 swabbed at our stationary screening clinics in the last 24 hours, bringing our cumulative total to 411,142 individuals screened and 73,893 swabbed to date. As of 4 August, our mobile screening teams screened a total of 1,928 individuals and swabbed 91. This brings our cumulative total to 776,034 individuals screened and 68,462 swabbed by our mobile teams.
Testing update
A total of 287,237 samples have been tested since this outbreak started in April 2021, with 330,098 tested since testing began in March 2020. 3352 tests have been reported for August 3rd. The national 7-day daily test average is 3401 tests per day or 3.8 tests per 1,000 population. The national 7-day average daily test positivity is 32.4 %.
Vaccination Update
As of 4 August, 498,680 adults in Fiji have received their first dose of the vaccine and 164,974 have received their second doses. This means that 85% of the target population have received at least one dose and 28.1% are now fully vaccinated nationwide.
Epidemic Outlook
The 7-day average of new cases per day is 1156 cases per day or 1193 cases per million population per day.
