Fiji reported the death of its seventh fully vaccinated COVID-19 victim last night, a 33-year-old man from Newtown who died at his home last Friday and is also believed to be the country’s youngest fully vaxxed COVID-19 fatality.
The Ministry of Health said that although the man was fully vaccinated “he had existing underlying medical conditions that would have toned down his ability to mount a good vaccine-induced immune response and thus reduced his ability to fully benefit from the protective effects of the vaccine.”
Prior to his death, the ministry said that his family reported that he had a reduced appetite, generalised body weakness, and lethargy. He had received the first dose of the vaccine in early August, and the second, on 13 September.
His death the ministry says underlines the importance of upholding COVID-safe protocol at all times, out of care for vulnerable family members irrespective of their vaccination status.
The man’s death takes to 633 the number of people who have died from COVID-19 in Fiji since March 2020 or 631 since April this year. The number of people who have died with COVID-19 stands at 493.
Transmission Update
Thirty-four new cases of COVID-19 were reported for the 24 hour period that ended at 8 am yesterday. There were 80 new recoveries, which means that there are now 12,828 active cases. There have been 51,132 cases during the outbreak that started in April 2021, totalling 51,202 since the first case was reported in March 2020.
Screening Update
A total of 4,719 individuals were screened and 162 swabbed at the stationary screening clinics in the last 24 hours, bringing the cumulative total to 705,777 individuals screened and 103,062 swabbed to date. The mobile screening teams did not undertake any screening over the weekend, and the cumulative total remains 851,719 individuals screened and 77,390 swabbed by the mobile teams.
Testing Update
A total of 372,270 samples have been tested since this outbreak started in April 2021, with 415,131 tested since testing began in March 2020, of which 632 were reported for 2 October.
The 7-day daily test average is 1,053 tests per day or 1.2 tests per 1,000 population. Weekly testing is at 9.7 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 6%.
Vaccination Update
To date, 593,442 adults in Fiji have received their first dose of the vaccine and 462,441 have received their second doses. Based on the updated total population of 618,173 people aged 18 years and over (adults), the vaccination coverage rates are 96% for adults who have received at least one dose, and 74.8% are now fully vaccinated nationwide.
