Fiji has recorded 386 new cases of COVID-19 and two COVID-19 deaths for the 24-hour period that ended at 8am today.
Ministry of Health’s Permanent Secretary, Dr James Fong said five of the new cases are contacts of cases who are undergoing 14 days of quarantine in facilities in Nadi, adding that the rest of the cases are from the Suva-Nausori containment zone.
Dr Fong said the first death from COVID-19 is a 66-year-old woman from Valelevu who was declared dead on arrival by doctors at the emergency department at CWM Hospital.
He further clarified that this means the woman died at home or on the way to hospital.
Her family reported that she had been feeling unwell at home for a few days and she was not vaccinated.
Dr Fong said the second death was reported yesterday as being under investigation to determine if the cause of death was COVID-19.
He added this was a 24-year-old woman from Wainibokasi admitted at the CWM Hospital for treatment of a serious non-COVID-related medical condition, and later tested positive in hospital.
After investigation, the doctors have determined that her death was caused by COVID-19 and not the prior medical condition. She was also not vaccinated.
Dr Fong said the death of another person who tested positive for COVID-19 is also currently under investigation to determine if COVID-19 was the cause of death.
There have now been 27 deaths due to COVID-19 in Fiji, with 25 of these deaths during the outbreak that started in April this year.
Dr Fong said Fiji has also have recorded 12 COVID-19 positive patients who died from the serious medical conditions that they had before they contracted COVID-19.
Three deaths are under investigation to determine the cause of death.
There have been 131 new recoveries reported since the last update, which means Fiji now has 4,496 active cases in isolation.
There have been 5,569 cases during the outbreak that started in April 2021.
Fiji has recorded a total of 5,639 cases in the country since the first case was reported in March 2020, with 1,101 recoveries.