Amid its growing Covid-19 outbreak, Fiji’s Health Ministry has confirmed its death toll has risen once again.
To date, there have been 33 Covid-19 related deaths in Fiji, with 31 of these deaths occurring during the outbreak which began in April this year.
In comparison, New Zealands total death since the start of the pandemic sits at 26. There are currently no community cases in New Zealand.
Fijis health system is currently straining under the weight of its outbreak, in which the Delta variant is circulating, and hundreds of new cases are being reported daily.
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A growing coronavirus outbreak in Fiji is stretching the health system and devastating the economy. People queue for a Covid-19 vaccination in Suva, Fiji, on Friday, June 25, 2021.
There have been 6443 cases reported during Fiji’s outbreak that started in April 2021. To date, the country has recorded a total of 6513 cases since the very first case was reported in March 2020.
In its daily Covid-19 update on Monday, Fijis Ministry of Health and Medical Services said there were 352 new cases of the virus, as well as three deaths to report in the past 24 hours.
The three people were all over the age of 50 and had not been vaccinated, the ministry said in a statement.
A mask wearing customer waits in a store in Suva, Fiji, on Thursday, June 24, 2021.
The ministry said that to date, it had recorded a further 15 Covid-19 positive patients who died from the serious medical conditions they had before they contracted the virus.
At Monday’s post-Cabinet press conference Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she spoke to Fiji’s prime minister last week, which was the second call theyve had in recent weeks.
New Zealand has provided Fiji with $40 million worth of aid and support in recent times, Ardern said.
We have provided support in the form of PPE and of course the commitment weve made around AstraZeneca vaccines, which is what Fiji are using for their roll-out, Ardern said.
New Zealand medical regulatory body Medsafe is yet to approve AstraZeneca here, but Ardern said Fiji was made aware of the approval process and timeframe. New Zealand has also contacted Australia about helping Fiji with vaccines.
Ardern said Fijis prime minister had acknowledged that New Zealand had sent over one member of the New Zealand Defence Force and another medical officer to support Fijis work on infection control.
Fijis ministry statement on Monday said that to date, 318,830 adults in Fiji had received their first dose of the vaccine and 52,592 had received their second doses. This meant that 54 per cent of the target population had received at least one dose, and 9 per cent were fully vaccinated nationwide.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks to media on Monday at a post-Cabinet press conference.
Amid it’s growing Covid-19 outbreak, Fiji’s Health Ministry has confirmed its death toll has risen once again.
