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Media Release

COVID-19 Daily Update

Saturday 09th October 2021

Transmission Update

We have 57 new cases of COVID-19 to report for the 24 hour period that ended at 8 am today.

There have been 48 new recoveries to report since the last update, which means that there are now 2,685 active cases. There have been 51,413 cases during the outbreak that started in April 2021. We have recorded a total of 51,483 cases in Fiji since the first case was reported in March 2020, with 47,615 recoveries.

We are currently reviewing and reconciling our active case database with deaths and recoveries and as a result, we expect the death and recovery numbers to intermittently change as verifications are made.

Deaths

We have no COVID-19 deaths to report today.

There have been 653 deaths due to COVID-19 in Fiji, with 651 of these deaths during the outbreak that started in April this year. Please note that due to the time required by clinical teams to investigate, classify and report deaths, a 4-day interval is given to calculate the 7 days rolling average of deaths, based on the date of death, to help ensure the data collected is complete before the average is reported. Therefore, as of October 5th, the national 7 days rolling average of COVID-19 deaths per day is 1.2. The 7 days rolling average for COVID-19 deaths per day in the Central Division is 0.9 and 0.3 in the Western Division.

We have also recorded 530 COVID-19 positive patients who died from the serious medical conditions they had before they contracted COVID-19; these are not classified as COVID-19 deaths.

Hospitalisations

There are currently 49 COVID-19 patients admitted to the hospital. 30 patients are admitted at the Lautoka Hospital and 19 are admitted at CWM hospital, St Giles, and Makoi. 3 patients are considered to be in severe condition, and 3 are in critical condition.

Screening Update

A total of 6,372 individuals were screened and 359 swabbed at our stationary screening clinics in the last 24 hours, bringing our cumulative total to 752,848 individuals screened and 105,342 swabbed to date. Our mobile screening teams screened a total of 320 individuals and swabbed a total of 5 over the last 24 hours. This brings our cumulative total to 856,320 individuals screened and 77,906 swabbed by our mobile teams.

Testing Update

A total of 378,588 samples have been tested since this outbreak started in April 2021, with 421,449 tested since testing began in March 2020. 1,059 tests have been reported for October 8th, 2021. The 7-day daily test average is 985 tests per day or 1.1 tests per 1,000 population. Weekly testing is at 7.5 tests per 1000 population, which remains above the WHO recommended level of 4 tests per 1000 population per week. The national 7-day average daily test positivity is 4.8%, which is on a downward trend, and below the WHO recommendation of 5%. We will continue to monitor the trend to better interpret the status of community transmission with other indicators.

Vaccination Update

An update of the vaccination status will be provided after the Hon. Prime Minister addresses the nation tomorrow at 4 pm.

Epidemic Outlook

The 7-day average of new cases per day is 45 cases per day or 51 cases per million population per day. As previously announced by the Permanent Secretary, the daily case numbers are currently not being used as the sole indicator to monitor the progress of the outbreak. The Ministry is closely monitoring other indicators such as test positivity, hospitalisations, and deaths to track the progress of the outbreak.

With the decrease in testing numbers, our testing remains above the WHO recommended rate of 4 tests per 1,000 population per week (or approx. 3,500 tests per week). We will be transitioning to community surveillance testing as severe disease numbers and positivity rates approach the containment phase levels.

No new cases were reported on Malolo Island in the last 24 hours. Of the total of 89 cases, 78 have recovered, and 11 remain active. Daily monitoring continues for the active cases and their contacts.  Vaccination of the villagers and distribution of food rations continue for the affected families. Movement restrictions remain in place.

No new cases were recorded on Naviti Island in the last 24 hours. Of the 181 cases, 179 have recovered and 2 remain active. Daily monitoring of cases and their contacts by the health team continues. The villages on the island remain under strict movement restrictions.

No new cases were recorded on Waya Island in the last 24 hours. Of the 51 cases on the island, there are 31 recoveries now with 20 cases remaining active and under daily monitoring by the health team. Vaccination of adults continues and the island remains on movement restriction.

Two new cases were recorded in the Nacula Medical Area in the last 24 hours. Of the 172 cases in the medical area, 57 have recovered, and 115 remain active. The active cases are isolated in their respective villages and are monitored daily by the health teams from the respective medical areas. Movement restrictions remain in force for the islands.

No new case was recorded on Beqa Island in the last 24 hours. Of the 253 cases on the island, 243 cases have now been recovered and 9 cases remain active, of which 5 are on Beqa Island and 9 on Yanuca Island. Vaccination continues in Naceva, Naseuseu, Rukua, Raviravi and Yanuca. Movement restriction remains in force for Yanuca Island with discontinuation of travel from Yanuca Island to Viti Levu on day 13 of 14 days.

No new case was recorded on Kadavu Island in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases to 587 cases. Of these, 557 cases have recovered and the remaining 30 active cases are under daily monitoring by the health team. Risk assessment revealed that 6 active cases are in the high-risk category and 24 in the low category. Eight patients are currently admitted at Vunisea hospital, of which 2 are COVID positive and currently in stable condition, and 6 are negative for COVID-19. Vaccination continues by the Vunisea health teams and the Kavala health teams. Movement restrictions remain in force supervised by the Police team and the Vanua.

Public Updates and Advice:

COVID-19 Endemic:

A disease becomes endemic when it is expected to remain persistently present in the community. Some diseases endemic to Fiji are dengue fever and the common cold. These diseases persist at some level in the community and become epidemics when levels go beyond what is determined to be expected and acceptable. Determining what that acceptable level of disease is for COVID-19, is a work in progress but in general, it will be at the level which triggers additional control measures, Because COVID-19 is a vaccine-preventable disease, and the vaccines are very good at preventing severe disease and death, in a highly vaccinated population determining and monitoring acceptable levels, or thresholds, goes beyond case numbers. A disease that causes frequent cases in the community (like the common cold) but has a small impact on the numbers of people needing hospitalization or death, and minimal impact on the health system, will require less intervention.  This is why, we will be closely monitoring the following indicators: cases, test positivity, hospitalisations, and deaths.



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