Coronavirus

The study conducted by NGO, Dialogue Fiji from June 25 to July 10 this year found that 53.9 percent of Fijians surveyed believed the Covid-19 vaccine was "very safe".

The survey, 'Determinants of Covid-19 Vaccines Hesitancy in Fiji', stated that public confidence in the effectiveness of the vaccines to prevent infection may be affected by perceived risks associated with vaccination.

"Of the 1047 respondents, only 53.9 percent reported the vaccine was 'very safe', while 19.4 percent reported the vaccines to be 'little safe' to 'not safe at all'," Dialogue Fiji stated.

According to Les Nouvelles Caledoniennes, several thousand people joined a march from the seat of government to the Congress building, organised by the group ReinfoCOVID.

The demonstrators are also against the so-called health pass introduced in France.

The rally comes just a day after the Congress unanimously voted to make vaccinations for adults mandatory by the end of the year.

There is no general penalty for those refusing to comply, but medical staff and port and airport workers will be fined US$1,750 if they refuse inoculation.

Fortune has not been kind to Joey Cirilo of late.

In March 2020, his girlfriend - who has a pre-existing heart condition - was left immobilised for weeks with a "really bad" case of COVID-19.

Then this year Mr Cirilo, 36, lost his job at a local charity, leaving him without a steady source of income.

And now, his life has been "completely changed" again, he said, this time because of Hurricane Ida.

The most powerful Atlantic storm of the 2021 hurricane season has forced the evacuation of thousands from Louisiana, Mr Cirilo among them.

The Government also confirmed 250 new cases for the 24 hours to 8am yesterday.

Thirteen of the new cases are on the outer island of Kadavu and three patients are pregnant women.

Permanent Secretary of Health Dr James Fong said, "This means there are now 270 active cases of Covid-19 in Kadavu," he said. "All these individuals have been isolated."

Fiji now has 16,267 active cases. There were 1102 recoveries.

The death toll is at 505, which 503 of these are from the latest outbreak that began in April, 2021.

A pharmacist saw several black particles in one vial of the vaccine in Kanagawa Prefecture, according to authorities.

Some 3,790 people had already received shots from the batch. The rest of the batch has now been put on hold.

It comes less than a week after Japan suspended the use of about 1.63 million Moderna doses due to contamination.

The pharmacist found the black particles while checking for foreign substances before the vaccine's use.

The jab's domestic distributor has collected the vial suspected to be contaminated.

The Ministry of Health announced the move in June amid a daily-record of cases, taking the total number of infections since April to over 19,000.

Health experts in and around Fiji have warned against the government's plan to isolate COVID patients at home amid the escalating cases in the country.

There are 19,151 active cases in isolation with 8352 of them in the Central Division, 10,562 in the West, five in the North (Nabouwalu and Macuata), and 232 cases are in the Eastern Division (Kadavu).

It brings the Delta outbreak's total fatalities in the state to 107.

Yesterday the state had 1116 new community cases and four more deaths from the virus.

NSW has now passed the 7 million mark for first doses of the Covid-19 vaccine.

It has hit a 70 percent first-dose vaccination rate becoming the first state/ territory in Australia to do so.

There were 121,000 people vaccinated in the state yesterday.

From 5am tomorrow exercise will no longer be limited to one hour for those who live in Sydney's local government areas (LGAs) of concern.

The Minister for International Development and the Pacific Zed Seselja told parliament this was one of the reasons why assistance to the Pacific remains critical.

He said on pandemic response, Australia had fronted up with COVID-19 vaccines.

"We have now gifted over 2.1 million life-saving vaccines to our neighbourhood. Because until everyone is safe from COVID, nobody is safe.

"And similarly, hundreds of thousands of Australian jobs depend on strong economic growth across our region."

The Government also confirmed 290 new cases for the 24 hours to 8am yesterday.

That compares with 505 cases and seven deaths in the previous 24-hour period.

Fiji now has 17,124 active cases. There were 2306 recoveries.

The death toll is at 504, which 502 of these are from the latest outbreak that began in April, 2021.

Health Secretary Dr James Fong said of the latest cases, 128 are from the Western Division, 137 from the Central Division and 25 cases are from the Eastern Division.

He said there are 25 new cases on Kadavu in the East.

The New Zealand Herald has reported that one case of it was seen in MIQ in late June and the variant did not enter the community, according to the Ministry of Health.

The new variant, known as C.1.2, was first detected in May and has now spread to most South African provinces and to seven other countries in Africa, Europe, Asia and Oceania, according to research which is yet to be peer-reviewed.