Fiji has reported 632 new cases of Covid-19 for the 24 hours to 8am yesterday.
Police ensure Covid-19 protocols are observed by the public. Photo: Fiji govt
The government also confirmed two more deaths.
That compares with 1121 cases and six deaths in the previous 24-hour period.
Health Secretary Doctor James Fong said of the latest cases, 570 of them were from the central division and the rest from the west.
"The first victim was a 35-year-old man from Newtown in Nasinu who died at home on 31 July. He was unvaccinated.
"The second victim was a 55-year-old man from Ba who had presented to a medical facility in severe respiratory distress.
"A medical team retrieved him from the medical facility and brought him to the Lautoka Hospital. His condition worsened in the hospital and he died four days after admission.
"His family had reported that he had generalised body pain, a cough and shortness of breath four days prior to his presentation to the medical facility.
"He had received the first dose of the vaccine in mid-July but had not received the second dose of the vaccine at time of his death. This means that he was not fully vaccinated."
Meanwhile, Dr Fong said there was an error in Saturday's daily update issued by the Health Ministry where 238 total deaths were reported due to the coronavirus in Fiji.
But he said it should have been 239 deaths, instead with 237 of them recorded during the outbreak that started in April this year.
This has since been corrected, Dr Fong said.
"The seven-day rolling average of Covid-19 deaths per day is eight," he said. "We also have recorded 130 positive patients who died from the serious medical conditions that they had before they contracted covid; these are not classified as Covid-19 deaths."
Dr Fong there had been 237 recoveries reported, which means of the 22,100 active cases; 18,906 are in the central division and 3194 in the west.
There have been 30,343 cases during the outbreak that started in April 2021 and a total of 30,413 cases in Fiji since the first case was reported in March 2020, with 7942 recoveries.
A health worker prepares a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine for a resident at a drive-through vaccination centre in Suva. Photo: AFP / Leon Lord
307 patients in hospitals: 59 severe, nine critical
There are currently 307 Covid-19 patients admitted in hospital; 28 at Lautoka hospital, 79 at the FEMAT field hospital in Suva, and 200 at the Colonial War Memorial Hospital, St Giles and Makoi hospitals.
Dr Fong said 59 patients are considered to be in a severe condition and nine critical.
He said a total of 2813 people had been screened and 200 swabbed in the last 24 hours, "bringing our cumulative total to 393,302 individuals screened and 71,599 swabbed to date.
"As of the 31 July, our mobile screening teams screened a total of 1364 individuals and swabbed 49. This brings our cumulative total to 770,204 individuals screened and 68,061 swabbed by our mobile teams.
"A total of 273,497 samples have been tested since this outbreak started in April 2021, with 316,358 tested since March 2020."
Dr Fong said 3252 tests had been reported for 30 July and testing data for one lab for the same day is pending.
He said the seven-day daily test average is 3235 per day or 3.7 tests per 1000 population.
He said Fiji's average daily test positivity is 32.3 percent. The World Health Organisation's (WHO) threshold is five percent.
"As of the 30 July, 482,175 adults in Fiji have received their first dose of the vaccine and 140,184 have received their second dose," Dr Fong said.
"This means that 82.2 percent of the target population have received at least one dose and 23.9 percent are now fully vaccinated nation-wide.
"Fijians can check the Ministry's vaccine dashboard to find real-time data on first-dose and second-dose numbers at the national, divisional and sub-divisional levels."
Dr Fong said daily average of new cases was 1039 or 1174 per million population.
He said daily case numbers remained high, and the daily test positivity was high, indicating ongoing widespread community transmission in the Suva-Nausori containment zone.
"Cases are also increasing in the western division with evidence of community transmission there. The northern and eastern divisions currently have no active cases of Covid-19."
Fiji now has 22,100 covid-positive people in isolation, and 241 deaths reported - 239 of them from this latest outbreak that began in April.
Photo: Facebook / Fiji Government