Coronavirus

The baby was admitted at the CWM Hospital in Suva and her medical records reflected that she had a congenital medical condition that contributed to the severity of her illness and death on Monday.

All eight deceased were from the Central Division.

809 people have died due to COVID-19 in Fiji so far.

The Ministry of Health also recorded 95 new cases of which 83 are from n Tuesday and 12 new cases in the last 24 hours ending at 8 am yesterday.

The Ministry of Health’s Permanent Secretary, Dr. James Fong is urging all Fijians who are eligible to get vaccinated or take their booster shots.

Dr. Fong highlighted that the analysis of the first 95 deaths in the vaccine eligible population during this third wave has revealed that fully vaccinated adults have 16.2 times lower rate of death from Covid-19 than unvaccinated adults.

Minister of Health Culwick Togamana announced the figures from the last 24 hours (up to midday Monday) this evening which brings totals to 12 deaths and 1486 cases since the start of the outbreak just under a fortnight ago.

The majority of cases were still coming from the capital, Honiara, and Malaita Province, but suspected cases were starting to crop up in other parts of the country, Dr Togamana said.

After 20 more cases were reported in the capital, officials announced that some local areas had been locked down with residents being tested.

Separately, organisers of the Olympics reported 34 new infections within the event's "closed-loop" bubble.

Officials said it included 13 athletes or officials arriving at the airport.

Anyone testing positive is being put into isolation and only allowed to compete after getting two negative test results in 24 hours.

He said he had seen fatigue set in which could explain the low uptake of the booster shot in the Pacific community.

"People are just Covid fatigued where everything is all about self-isolation, traffic lights and the lockdowns.

I think it is just fatigue, people are just tired so I don't know if it is complacency but it's been ongoing and two years is a long time to go through changes."

Sefo said the South Seas Healthcare team were preparing now for Omicron to hit communities just like they had done in the past two years of Covid-19.

Ardern and Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro were on flight NZ8273 from Kerikeri to Auckland on 22 January. Someone who tested positive for Covid-19 was on the flight which added to the Ministry of Health's website as a location of interest last night.

The result of whole genome sequencing for the case is expected today, but it is likely to be Omicron, a media statement from the prime minister's office said last night.

Ardern and Dame Cindy were in Northland undertaking advance filming at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds for the Waitangi Day broadcast.

People in developing nations are generally missing out due to accessibility issues, a slow roll out of vaccines, difficulties getting to remote areas, a lack health of resources and misinformation resulting in vaccine hesitancy.

But ChildFund director of programmes Quenelda Clegg said developed countries need to support the Pacific and also stop hoarding vaccines.

The organisation has been raising awareness about vaccine inequity and the issues happening in the Pacific.

It is the highest number of deaths reported in a daily update during the current wave, and the biggest daily increase since 59 deaths were reported on 4 September in 2020.

The daily death tolls include a number of recent deaths reported to health authorities and do not indicate that all the deaths occurred on the previous day.

There are now 988 people in hospital after contracting the virus, down from 1057 reported on Thursday.

Of those patients, 114 are in intensive care units and 40 are receiving ventilation.

This takes the death toll since the pandemic hit the country in 2020 to 791.

Fiji's Government also confirmed on Wednesday the 10 day-old infant, 8 year-old girl and 13 year-old boy are among 12 Covid-19 patients who died.

There are 223 new cases in the community, with a total of 1,980 patients in isolation.

Health Secretary Dr James Fong said all three children were from the Northern Division.

He said the baby had passed away at home before she could be taken to the hospital.

The Micronesian Island nation recorded 65 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, bringing the total number of positive infections to 181.

The Health Ministry said the new infections were reported on Tarawa, and those infected are in home isolation.

There are now 145 local and 36 imported cases.

Authorities also confirmed that some government officials have tested positive for the virus and are working remotely.

The authorities are advising people to strictly follow the Covid-19 protocols to minimise the risks and spreading the virus in the community.