By RNZ.co.nz and is republished with permission.
Fiji has reported three more deaths and 460 new cases of Covid-19 in the community.
There are now 1,558 active cases in isolation with the death toll at 801.
The deaths were recorded between last Thursday and Friday.
The Government also confirmed that all three victims, aged 46 to 92, had died at home.
Health Secretary Dr James Fong said the 92-year-old woman was from the Central Division.
The 46-year-old woman from the Western Division, had significant pre-existing comorbidities, Dr Fong said.
He said the 79-year old woman from the Central Division had a congenital comorbidity.
“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 seven days rolling average of deaths, based on the date of death, to help ensure the data collected is complete before the average is reported,” Dr Fong said.
He said as of January 20, the national seven-day rolling average for Covid-19 deaths per day was 2.9, with a case fatality rate of 1.32 percent.
“We have recorded 839 Covid-19 positive patients who died from other serious medical conditions unrelated to Covid-19.
“Their doctors determined that Covid-19 did not contribute to their deaths, therefore, these are not classified as Covid-19 deaths.”
Dr Fong said there were 100 Covid-19 patients in hospital – 42 in the west, 37 in the central division and 21 in the north.
Over 500,000 doses of Pfizer going to Fiji
A commitment of more than half a million doses of the Pfizer vaccine from New Zealand and Australia is expected to boost Fiji’s fight against Covid-19 over the next three months.
The first batch of 175,000 doses arrived in Fiji on Tuesday.
Fiji’s Health Secretary James Fong says the vaccine will be used for children aged 12 years and above, as well as the Covid-19 booster programme.
New Zealand had also committed 100,000 doses.
Australian High Commissioner to Fiji, John Feakes, said Australia would work with UNICEF and Fiji’s Health Ministry to improve the nation’s cold chain storage to support the rollout of the Pfizer vaccine.
