COVID-19 deaths recorded at the Suva morgue have dropped for the third consecutive week on the back of decreased deaths in the central division.
Suva Morgue Services Director Diven Prasad said operations in recent weeks have been running at normal capacity, but they will maintain the additional spaces, 200 in all, in case anything changes.
During the height of transmission in the central division, the Suva Morgue was handling between 10 and 15 COVID-19 deaths a day aside from deaths by other causes.
“In a day now we have around four deaths, and we are maintaining COVID protocols. We will keep the additional spaces on standby, but the death rate in the central division is going down,” Prasad said.
The latest death in the central division was recorded four days ago, on 29 August, involving a 75-year-old unvaccinated woman from Suva. The death was announced yesterday. Over the last seven days, the most number of deaths to be announced in the central division was four. As of 25 August, the 7-day rolling average for deaths by COVID-19 in the central division is 2 and in the western division, 4.
However, there are no celebrations as yet, as health authorities are also keeping a close eye on developments in the islands on Kadavu with 175 active cases, Malolo Island with 29 and one from Naviti Island admitted at the Lautoka Hospital.
The number of patients deemed severe and/or critical have fluctuated as well of late, so too hospitalisation numbers, increasing by one in Lautoka and seven across CWM Hospital, St Giles and Makoi in the central division.
With 10 deaths reported overnight, total deaths due to COVID-19 in Fiji have risen to 479, with 477 of these occurred during the outbreak that started in April this year. There have also been 307 other deaths involving COVID-19 positive patients, whose deaths have been attributed to other causes.
