Fiji surpasses 500-mark in daily COVID19 case numbers

Fiji recorded a new daily highest of coronavirus infections today at 522, bringing up active case numbers to close to 5,000 with the average daily test positivity rate now double the WHO 5% threshold.

Three confirmed COVID19 deaths were also announced today – one a new case and two were previously under investigation – involving aged persons, from Lami who were unvaccinated, health officials say.

The newly announced fatality involved a 93-year-old from Matata, Valenicina, and the other two include a 56-year-old woman from Qauia who died under similar circumstance, and a 60-year-old man from Lami Village who was declared dead on arrival at the Lami Health Centre.

There was one other death that was under investigation, but medical officials have classified it as non-COVID and that the person died from a pre-existing illness.

There have now been 30 deaths due to COVID-19 in Fiji, with 28 of these deaths during the outbreak that started in April this year. Thirteen (13) other COVID-19 positive patients have also died in the outbreak, but from pre-existing medical conditions.

There have been 108 new recoveries reported since the last update, which means that there are now 4,909 active cases in isolation. There have been 6091 cases during the outbreak that started in April 2021, and a total of 6161 cases in Fiji since the first case was reported in March 2020, with 1209 recoveries.

The national 7-day average daily test positivity is 10.4% and continues on an upward trend. To date, 317, 461 adults in Fiji have received their first dose of the vaccine and 52,001 have received their second doses. Fiji’s new7-day average of new cases per day has increased to 367 cases per day or 386 cases per million population per day.

“As expected, with the increasing cases numbers we are also seeing increasing numbers of people with severe disease, and more deaths in the Suva-Nausori containment zone. It remains a serious concern that some people with severe disease come to a medical facility only in the late stages of their illness. And we are still sadly seeing people with severe disease die at home or on the way to hospital, before our medical teams have a chance to administer what could potentially be life saving treatment,” the Ministry of Health said in a statement.