Case numbers in Kadavu and Malolo remain the same as opposed to Naviti and Beqa islands where on the latter, cases have risen close to 50 with three patients transferred to the CWM Hospital in Suva including a 70-year-old with severe COVID-19 disease.
Since Beqa’s first case in Dakuni village, four days ago, there have been 37 more cases in the village. Eleven more cases were also detected in Dakuibeqa village for the 24-hour period ending at 8am today.
Averaging 25 cases a day, movement restrictions have been imposed in Beqa and food rations have since been provided to affected families in Dakuni.
Fiji’s Permanent Secretary for Health Dr James Fong said health teams comprising personnel from Serua/Namosi subdivision and CWM Hospital continue to carry out awareness sessions with a view to increasing their understanding and acceptance of the intervention that is required including testing and measures to contain the spread of the virus.
The cases in Dakuibeqa were among 38 new cases recorded in the central division during the reporting period, whilst a balance of 90 was reported in the western division including nine on Naviti recorded in Gunu and Nasoqo villages. Movement restrictions remain for the whole island.
Malolo island did not record any new cases in the last 24 hours and daily assessment continues for the active cases and their contacts. Movement restrictions remain in force for all villages on the island.
In the North of Fiji, active numbers have dropped to two from five after three patients reportedly recovered. In Kadavu, cases remain at 295, 1,474 in the central division, and in the West, 11, 043.
There have been 48,916 cases during the outbreak that started in April 2021 and a total of 48,986 cases in Fiji since the first case was reported in March 2020. There have been a total of 35,272 recoveries since.
Deaths
There was no COVID-19-attributed death reported during the period, although two COVID-19 positive patients died. Doctors that attended to them attributed their deaths to serious pre-existing medical conditions they had and not COVID-19. The new deaths take the total number of COVID-19 positive patients who have died due to other causes, during the outbreak, to 365.
There have now been 535 deaths due to COVID-19 in Fiji, with 533 of these deaths during the outbreak that started in April this year. As of 7 September, the national 7-day rolling average of COVID-19 deaths per day is two. The 7-day rolling average for COVID-19 deaths per day in the central division is one and in the western division, one.
Vaccination
As of 11 September, 569,931 equating to 97.1% of the target adult population in Fiji have received their first dose of the vaccine with 341,679 or 58.2% gone on to receive their second dose and deemed fully vaccinated.
Epidemic Outlook
The 7-day average of new cases per day is 160 cases per day or 181 cases per million population per day.
Hospitalizations
There are currently 127 COVID-19 patients admitted to the hospital. 50 patients are admitted at the Lautoka Hospital, 8 patients are admitted at the FEMAT field hospital, and 69 admitted at CWM hospital, St Giles, and Makoi. 17 patients are considered to be in severe condition, and 4 are in critical condition.
Testing Update
A total of 347,525 samples have been tested since this outbreak started in April 2021, with 390,386 tested since testing began in March 2020. Of these, 813 tests were carried out on 11 September.
The 7-day daily test average is 1,078 tests per day or 1.2 tests per 1,000 population. Weekly testing is at 10.3 tests per 1000 population, which remains above the WHO recommended level of 4 per 1000 population per week. The national 7-day average daily test positivity is 16.3%.
