By Eleanor Gee
Fiji opened its first COVID-19 vaccination drive-through at Suva's Albert Park Pavillion on 6 July as the country battles with rapidly increasing new cases.
The Ministry of Health and Medical Services reported 636 new COVID-19 cases and 6 deaths over a 24-hour period on 7 July.
With the increasing case numbers the Ministry said they are seeing increasing numbers of people with severe disease and more deaths in the Suva-Nausori containment zone.
“We continue to see people with severe COVID-19 dying at home or coming to a medical facility in the late stages of severe illness and dying within a day or two. Severe COVID-19 is a medical emergency and a delay in receiving appropriate medical treatment may result in a higher risk of death.”
As at 7 July, 324,462 adults in Fiji have received their first dose of the COVID-19 AstraZeneca vaccine and 54,737 have received their second doses. Around 55% of the target population has received at least one dose and 9.3% are now fully vaccinated nationwide.
There are now 5,776 active cases in isolation. There have been 7,079 cases and 37 deaths during the outbreak that started in April 2021.
Since March 2020, Fiji has recorded a total of 7,149 cases and 39 deaths due to COVID-19, with 1,318 recoveries.
The 7-day average of new cases per day has increased to 429 cases per day or 485 cases per million population per day.
