Fiji has reported 684 new cases of Covid-19 for the last 24 hours to 8am on Saturday.
Photo: AFP
The government also confirmed five more deaths from 19-23 July.
That compares to 468 cases and 11 deaths in the previous 24-hour period.
Health Secretary Dr James Fong said 12 other Covid-positive people had died however, he said their deaths were not caused by the virus but due to serious pre-existing medical conditions.
Dr Fong said all the victims were unvaccinated against Covid-19.
* A 73-year-old woman from Namoli Village in Lautoka presented to the Lautoka Hospital Emergency Department in severe respiratory distress on 19 July. Her condition worsened at the hospital and she died on the same day.
* A 96-year-old woman from Nadera in Nasinu died at home on 22 July.
* A 67-year-old woman from the capital Suva also died at home on 22 July.
* A 57-year-old woman from Nasinu presented to a health facility in severe respiratory distress on 23 July. Her condition worsened at the health centre and she died on the same day.
* The fifth Covid-19 death is a 57-year-old man from Nasinu died at home on 23 July.
Dr Fong said 177 people have died from the coronavirus in Fiji since March 2020.
"We also have recorded 87 Covid-positive patients who died from the serious medical conditions that they had before they contracted the virus; their deaths are not classified as due to Covid-19.
"There have been 165 new recoveries reported since the last update, which means that there are now 16,563 active cases.
"There have been 22,443 cases during the outbreak that started in April 2021. We have recorded a total of 22,513 cases in Fiji since the first case was reported in March 2020, with 5686 recoveries."
Residents look on as police check people are wearing face masks in Suva. Photo: AFP or licensors
Over 350,000 people screened, about 291,000 tested
A total of 5726 individuals were screened and 1656 swabbed at stationary screening clinics in the last 24 hours, Dr Fong said.
He said this brings "our cumulative total to 354,948 individuals screened and 65,606 swabbed to date.
"Our mobile screening teams screened a total of 4320 individuals and swabbed 638 in the last 24 hours.
"This brings our cumulative total to 739,036 individuals screened and 65,450 swabbed by our mobile teams to date."
Dr Fong said a total of 247,846 samples have been tested since April this year, with 290,707 tested since March 2020.
He said 3694 tests had been reported for 22 July. Updated testing number data for one lab has been received for 21 July and the total number for that day has been updated.
"The national seven-day daily test average is 3841 tests per day or 4.3 tests per 1000 population.
"The national seven-day average daily test positivity is 24.4 percent."
The World Health Organisation (WHO) threshold is five percent.
As of 23 July, 438,535 adults in Fiji have received their first dose of the vaccine and 95,173 have received their second doses, Dr Fong said.
He said this means that 74.8 percent of the target population have received at least one dose of the vaccine and 16.2 percent are now fully vaccinated nation-wide.
Dr Fong said the seven-day average of new cases per day is 863 cases per day or 975 cases per million population per day.
The Covid-19 Drive-Through Vaccination Centre in Suva. Photo: Facebook/Fiji govt