A 9-year-old boy from Tailevu has died after contracting coronavirus, Fijian health authorities say, becoming the eighth person aged between 0 and 18 years in the country to die from the virus since Fiji’s first case.
The child died at home last Sunday after episodes of cough and shortness of breath two weeks prior.
He was among four latest deaths announced in Fiji, including two deaths in August and the fourth, early September.
News of the child’s death came as the country recorded 49 cases of COVID-19, 62 new recoveries and 10 additional deaths of COVID-19 positive patients for the 24-hour period that ended at 8am yesterday.
There are now 8,871 active cases. There have been 51,203 cases during the outbreak that started in April 2021, and a total of 51,273 cases in Fiji since the first case was reported in March 2020, with 41,251 recoveries.
Deaths
All four COVID-19 deaths have been reported from the Central Division. The two deaths from August are being reported today due to a delay in the issuance of the official death certificate.
The second COVID-19 death to report is a 29-year-old woman from Suva who died at home on 7 September. She received the first dose of the vaccine in early July and did not receive the second dose.
The third COVID-19 death to report is a 52-year-old woman from Suva who died at home on 9 August. She was not vaccinated.
The fourth COVID-19 death to report is a 67-year-old man from Suva. He presented to the CWM hospital on 4 August in severe respiratory distress. He died one day after admission. He was not vaccinated.
There have been 10 more deaths of COVID-19 positive patients. However, these deaths have been classified as non-COVID deaths by their doctors. The doctors have determined that these deaths were caused by a serious pre-existing medical condition and not COVID-19.
There have now been 638 deaths due to COVID-19 in Fiji, with 636 of these deaths during the outbreak that started in April this year.
Fiji have also recorded 513 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.
Vaccination Update
A total of 593,842 adults in Fiji have received their first dose of the vaccine and 470,867 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 96.1% for adults who have received at least one dose, and 76.2% are now fully vaccinated nationwide.
As for children, 21,062 children in Fiji have received their first dose of the vaccine as of 4 October.
