647 new cases and one death confirmed in Fiji

Fiji has reported 647 new cases of COVID-19 and one death in the 24-hour period that ended at 8am yesterday.

That compares to 873 cases and three deaths in the previous 24-hour update.

The Health Ministry also announced last night a 58-year-old man from Delaivalelevu had died at home.

The man's family reported that he had been feeling unwell for one week.

Health Secretary James Fong said the man had received his first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine in mid-June but was yet to get the second jab when he died.

Fiji now has 9725 active cases in isolation and 59 deaths reported, with 57 of them from this latest outbreak that began in April.

"There has been one more death of a COVID-19 positive patient," Dr Fong said. "However, the death has been classified as a non-COVID death by doctors who have determined that this death was caused by a serious pre-existing medical condition and not COVID.

"We also have recorded 27 COVID-19 positive patients, who died from the serious medical conditions that they had before they contracted the virus, and these are not classified as COVID deaths.

"There have been 230 new recoveries reported since the last update, which means that there are now 9725 active cases."

There have been 11,962 cases during the outbreak that started in April 2021.

The ministry has also recorded a total of 12,032 cases in Fiji since the first case was reported in March 2020, with 2221 recoveries.