There has been a drop in the number of new COVID-19 cases reported daily in Fiji recently, but the Ministry of Health and Medical Services attributed this to a change in testing policy in the Suva-Nausori area.

In a COVID-19 update yesterday, the Ministry said their daily testing numbers had been dropping around the same time.

"This does not mean that the outbreak is on a downward trend in the Suva-Nausori community."

The country recorded 314, 467, 350, and 590 new COVID-19 cases each day from August 14 - 17, and 45 deaths were recorded from August 11 – 15.

New cases per day had reached up to and over 1,000 in July and earlier this month.

On July 21, Fiji’s Permanent Secretary for Health, Dr James Fong announced only persons that have a higher risk of developing severe COVID-19 are being targeted for testing in Suva-Nausori.

"This was done so that resources could be targeted to early detection, monitoring and care of persons with COVID-19 who are at higher risk of severe disease, to prevent more people succumbing to severe disease and death."

Daily case numbers in Suva-Nausori are currently not being used as an indicator to monitor progress of the outbreak in the area.

The Ministry said they are closely monitoring other indicators such as test positivity, hospitalisations and deaths to track the progress of the outbreak in Suva-Nausori.

As at 17 August, Fiji has 21,754 active COVID-19 cases, with 14,554 in the Central Division, 7,199 in the Western Division, and 1 in the Northern Division.

A total of 41,177 COVID-19 cases have been recorded in Fiji since the first case was reported in March 2020, with 18,795 recoveries.

There have been 405 deaths due to the virus, with 403 of these deaths during the outbreak that started in April this year.

There are currently 320 COVID-19 patients admitted to hospital, with 39 patients considered to be in severe condition, and 13 in critical condition.

COVID-19 vaccination

Around 536,123 adults in Fiji have received their first dose of the vaccine and 216,012 have received their second doses as at August 16.

This means 91.4% of the target population have received at least one dose and 36.8% are now fully vaccinated in the country.