Fiji has reported a drop in Covid-19 infections with 264 new cases for the 24 hours to 8am on Tuesday.
Photo: 123rf.com
The government also confirmed 10 deaths, taking the toll to 327.
That compares with 603 and 18 deaths in the previous 24-hour period.
Health Secretary Doctor James Fong said five of the victims had died at home while the rest passed away in hospital.
The deaths were reported between 30 July to 10 August and they were all from the Central Division.
Three more people who tested positive to Covid-19 had also died, however Dr Fong said their deaths were caused by serious pre-existing medical conditions and not due to the coronavirus.
"There have now been 327 deaths due to Covid-19 in Fiji, with 325 of these deaths during the outbreak that started in April this year.
"The 7-day rolling average of covid deaths per day is 7. We also have recorded 171 Covid-19 positive patients who died from the serious medical conditions that they had before they contracted the virus; these are not classified as Covid deaths."
Dr Fong said there were 300 Covid-19 patients admitted to hospital - 62 of them at the Lautoka Hospital, 67 at the FEMAT field hospital, and 171 at the Colonial War Memorial, St Giles and Makoi hospitals.
He said 41 patients are considered to be in severe condition while nine are in critical condition.
Dr Fong said out of the 264 new cases, 131 are from the Western Division and 133 cases from the Central Division
There have also been 257 recoveries with 24,414 active cases now in isolation and a quarter of them at home.
Australian and Fijian government officials at the Nadi International Airport after the arrival of 100,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Photo: Supplied/Australian High Commission, Suva
Australia nears one million vaccine target for Fiji
Meanwhile, Australia is closing in on its one million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine commitment for Fiji with another 100,000 doses arriving in Nadi on Monday night.
The latest shipment now brings Australia's total donation of the vaccine to more than 760,000.
In a tweet, Australian High Commissioner John Feakes said his government was keeping up the pace in supporting Fiji's Ministry of Health and Medical Services' world-class Covid-19 vaccination campaign.
According to the Ministry as of 9 August, 513,535 adults had received their first dose of the vaccine and 180,722 had got both jabs.
"This means that 87.5 percent of the target population have received at least one dose and 30.8 percent are now fully vaccinated nation-wide.
"A total of 297,801 samples have been tested since this outbreak started in April 2021, with 340,662 tested since March 2020. 1085 tests have been reported for 8 August."
Fiji's seven-day daily test average is 2489 tests per day or 2.8 tests per 1000 population.
The national seven-day average daily test positivity is 37.1 percent - the World Health Organisation's threshold is at five percent.
John Feakes. Photo: Australian High Commission/Suva
