Fiji

The latest figures from the start of August show huge increases when compared with the same period in July.

By the end of July, Fiji's Ministry of Health and Medical Services had recorded 25,363 new infections and 218 deaths for the month.

According to government figures, the country started July with 3503 infections but by the month's end, 21,707 people were living with the Delta strain of the coronavirus.

The government also confirmed six more deaths including an 18-year-old woman.

That compares with 752 cases and seven deaths in the previous 24-hour period.

Health Secretary Doctor James Fong said of the latest cases, 193 are from the Western Division and 489 cases from the Central Division.

Dr Fong said the latest victims died on 5 and 6 August, with three deaths in the Central Division and three in the Western Division.

He said all but two of the patients were not vaccinated.

The government also confirmed seven more deaths, taking the toll to 290.

Health secretary Dr James Fong said the patients had died between July 10th and August 5.

All but one of them were not vaccinated.

Fiji has had 360 cases in total since the first case was reported in March 2020, with 161 recoveries and four deaths.

Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary Dr James Fong said two patients were in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Colonial War Memorial Hospital in Suva.

"Today has not been an easy day, nor do I expect that the days ahead will get any better. Many of you have questions. I hope to answer some now and I am assured that a press conference will be organised soon to answer more questions," Dr Fong said.

Permanent Secretary for Health, Dr James Fong said all of the cases are from Makoi outside Suva.

They are close contacts of the woman who presented to the Makoi Health Centre yesterday with COVID symptoms.

“Four of our positive patients are her household members, seven are from an adjoining home, and one is a secondary contact. All have been entered into isolation.

Dr Fong said 2217 tests were conducted yesterday.

According to the Permanent Secretary for Health, Dr James Fong, the first two are close household contacts of previously announced cases, and they have tested positive while secure in quarantine facilities.

One is the 25-year-old wife of the case who stayed in Vunimono, Nausori and the other is his 52-year-old aunt.

Dr Fong told a press conference this evening that the third case is a former border quarantine passenger who arrived from Papua New Guinea into Nadi on Friday April 9th.

The first case is a soldier working in a border quarantine facility and is a roommate of the first border quarantine soldier announced Covid-19 positive on Sunday, 18 April.

According to the Ministry of Health, the new case tested negative on his first test and did not pose a threat to the public as he remained in the border quarantine facility.

He has now tested positive after 7 days in quarantine.

Four of the other new cases are close contacts of the hotel worker who attended a funeral.

One of the cases is classified as community transmission and the patient is the daughter of a hotel worker who was confirmed Covid-19 positive yesterday.

The hotel worker was based at a border quarantine facility.

Permanent Secretary for Health and Medical Services Dr James Fong confirmed the second community transmission case in a press conference this afternoon.

“Due to her extensive exposure with the public, this hotel staff, and now her daughter, has been the central focus of our contact tracing,” Dr Fong said.

The case was confirmed just as Fiji was preparing to commemorate one year since the last case of Covid-19 outside of a border quarantine facility.

Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama said yesterday they became aware of a new border quarantine case that could pose a risk of transmission beyond the border which requires immediate steps, from all of us, to mitigate.

The vaccine rollout started on Wednesday following the arrival of 12,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine last weekend.

Since the vaccine requires two doses, 6,000 front-line workers will get the first jabs.

But the government said this could not happen until people registered to get vaccinated.

With the absence of a national identification mechanism and a digital immunisation registry in Fiji, the government said the need to have a credible registration process and an internationally acceptable vaccine passport are paramount.