A 15-year-old girl from Tavua in Fiji’s north-western part of the main island of Viti Levu is among the latest COVID-19 fatalities.
The Ministry of Health’s Permanent Secretary, Doctor Fong said 11 deaths were recorded between 2 and 5 August, Eight of the deaths are reported in the Central Division and three in the Western Division.
“A 15-year-old girl from Tavua presented to a medical facility in respiratory distress and she was transferred to Lautoka Hospital on 2 August. Her family reported that she had a fever, cough and shortness of breath two days prior to visiting the health centre. Clinical investigations revealed she had both leptospirosis and COVID-19.”
"Sadly, her condition worsened at the hospital and she died one day after admission," Dr Fong said. "Her doctors have determined that she died from severe COVID-19 and leptospirosis. Both diseases contributed to her death.”
"She was not vaccinated as she was not in the target population of people 18 years and over who are eligible to receive the vaccine."
Along with the deaths, Fiji has also recorded a total of 968 new cases of COVID-19 in the 24-hour period ending 8am yesterday.
There have been 385 new recoveries which means that there are now 23,226 active cases. 18,589 active cases are in the Central Division and 4,637 in the West.
There have been 34,818 cases during the outbreak that started in April 2021.
Fiji has recorded a total of 34,888 cases since the first case was reported in March 2020, with 11,233 recoveries.