Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong has confirmed 11 new COVID-19 deaths from August 13th to 18th and 485 new COVID cases.
All the 11 deaths are reported from the Western Division.
The first COVID-19 death is a 68 year old man from Sigatoka. He presented to the Sigatoka Sub-Divisional Hospital in severe respiratory distress. He was transferred from Sigatoka Sub-Divisional Hospital to Lautoka Hospital. Sadly, he died seven days after admission on 17th August. He was not vaccinated.
The second death is a 68 year old man from Lautoka. He presented to the Lautoka Hospital in respiratory distress. His family reported that he had cough and shortness of breath three days prior to presentation. He died three days after admission on 18th August. He received the first dose of the vaccine in early-August. He did not receive the second dose of the vaccine.
The third death is a 73 year old man from Lautoka. He presented to the Lautoka Hospital in respiratory distress. He died two days after admission on 13th August. He received the first dose of the vaccine in late July. He did not receive the second dose of the vaccine.
Doctor Fong says the fourth COVID-19 death is an 84 year old man from Rakiraki who died at home on 17th August. He was not vaccinated.
The fifth death is a 72 year old woman from Sigatoka who died at home on 17th August. She was not vaccinated.
The sixth COVID-19 death is a 59 year old man from Sigatoka. He was declared dead on arrival by the attending medical officer at the Sigatoka Sub-Divisional Hospital on 18th August. He was not vaccinated.
The seventh COVID-19 death is a 64 year old man from Nadi. He was declared dead on arrival by the attending medical officer at the Nadi Hospital on 18th August. He was not vaccinated.
The eighth death is a 52 year old man from Nadi. He was transferred from an Isolation facility in Nadi on 15th August to the Lautoka Hospital. He was noted to be in severe respiratory distress. Sadly, he died three days after admission on 18th August at the Lautoka Hospital. He received the first dose of the vaccine in early July. He did not receive the second dose of the vaccine.
The ninth death is a 95 year old woman from Sigatoka who died at home on 17th August. She was not vaccinated.
The tenth death is a 57 year old woman from Nadi. She presented to the Nadi Hospital in severe respiratory distress. She died five days after admission on 17th August. She received the first dose of the vaccine in late July. She did not receive the second dose of the vaccine.
The eleventh COVID-19 death is an 86 year old man from Lautoka who died at home on 17th August. He was not vaccinated.
There have been 14 more deaths of COVID-19 positive patients. However, these deaths have been classified as non-COVID deaths by their doctors.
Doctors have determined that their deaths were caused by serious pre-existing medical conditions and not COVID-19.
With today’s newly reported deaths, there are now 432 deaths due to COVID-19 in Fiji, with 430 of these deaths during the outbreak that started in April this year.
As of August 16th, the national 7 day rolling average of COVID-19 deaths per day is 11.
The 7 day rolling average for COVID-19 deaths per day in the Central Division is 5 and in the Western Division is 6.
We also have recorded 247 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.
A death announced yesterday from Kadavu is still under investigation.
[Kadavu Island]
Of the 485 new cases, 251 cases are from the Western Division, 188 cases are from the Central Division and 46 cases are from the Eastern Division.
The 46 new cases reported from the Eastern Division are all contacts of the index case from Rakiraki Village, Yale, Kadavu.
Doctor Fong says 45 of these new cases are from the same village, while one case is from Naioti Village. All of these cases have been isolated.
There have been 1,080 new recoveries reported since the last update, which means that there are now 20,591 active cases.
12,050 active cases are in the Central Division, 8,494 active cases in the Western Division, 1 active case in the Northern Division and 46 active cases in the Eastern Division.
There have been 43,026 cases during the outbreak that started in April 2021.
We have recorded a total of 43,096 cases in Fiji since the first case was reported in March 2020, with 21,825 recoveries
