Coronavirus

The government said 10 million doses of the mRNA vaccine are due to arrive by the end of the year, and 15 million shots in 2022.

Australia's rollout has lagged behind other nations after initial delays and caution over the AstraZeneca vaccine.

The country has so far administered 2.8 million shots of a Covid vaccine.

That is well short of the 50 million jabs needed to fully vaccinate its population. The country's immunisation programme was recently opened to all Australians aged over 50.

This evening the country’s Permanent Secretary for Health, Dr James Fong said the woman from the recent Makoi cluster, was entered into intensive care after her condition began rapidly deteriorating.

“Despite the best efforts of her attending physicians, she has passed away.”

The case is Fiji’s second reported death from COVID-19 due to this outbreak.

 Among the new cases reported are three staff of the Fiji Centre for Disease Control.

Dr Fong said the three staff who have tested positive for the virus have been transferred to isolation facilities.

New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta said the rollout in the Cook Islands would begin on 19 May. It was expected to take six to eight weeks, and would then be followed by programmes in Niue and Tokelau - both are also part of the realm of New Zealand.

The government today pledged to provide additional Covid-19 vaccines to Pacific Island nations, so their total delivery would reach at least 1.2 million people in the region in the coming year.

The panel, set up by the World Health Organization, said the combined response of the WHO and global governments was a "toxic cocktail".

The WHO should have declared a global emergency earlier than it did, its report said, adding that without urgent change the world was vulnerable to another major disease outbreak.

More than 3.3 million people around the world have now died of Covid.

While the US and Europe are beginning to ease restrictions and resume some aspects of pre-pandemic life, the virus is still devastating parts of Asia.

Deaths from Covid-19 swelled by 4205, while daily coronavirus cases rose by 348,421, with India's overall number of cases surging past 23 million, according to health ministry data.

Even then, experts believe the official numbers grossly underestimate the real scale of the epidemic's impact, and actual deaths and infections could be five to ten times higher.

India's Covid-19 infection curve may be showing early signs of flattening, but the decline in the number of new infections is likely to be slow, top Indian virologist Shahid Jameel said.

A 24-hour curfew will come into effect for Suva and Nausori from 11pm Friday to 4am Tuesday.

Fiji's FBC news reports three of the new cases are co-workers of a staff member of Extra Supermarket, who had tested positive yesterday.

The supermarket has been closed for decontamination purposes while the ministry awaits the test results from the remaining staff and management.

The Indian government has told medics to look out for signs of mucormycosis in coronavirus patients following an increase in cases of the rare but potentially fatal infection.

The disease can lead to blackening or discolouration over the nose, blurred or double vision, chest pain, breathing difficulties and coughing blood.

It is strongly linked to diabetes, which can in turn be exacerbated by steroids, such as dexamethasone, used to treat severe COVID-19.

Permanent Secretary for Health, Dr James Fong said all of the cases are from Makoi outside Suva.

They are close contacts of the woman who presented to the Makoi Health Centre yesterday with COVID symptoms.

“Four of our positive patients are her household members, seven are from an adjoining home, and one is a secondary contact. All have been entered into isolation.

Dr Fong said 2217 tests were conducted yesterday.

The discovery, near the border between the states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, was confirmed to the BBC on Monday.

It is not clear how the bodies came to be there, but local media reports suggest they may be Covid-19 victims.

Some media reports say as many as 100 bodies have been found, and that their condition suggests they may have been in the river for several days.

"There is a possibility that these bodies have come out of Uttar Pradesh," a local official, Ashok Kumar, told the BBC after questioning local residents.

Last night the Permanent Secretary for Health, Dr James Fong announced that a woman from Makoi, outside Suva presented herself at a health centre yesterday with COVID symptoms.

“We’ll be treating this as another case of community transmission until proven otherwise. The contact tracing, testing and isolation protocols are currently activated and the centre is closed for now. Due to the steadily rising number of cases across Viti Levu, the borders of all six containment areas Lautoka, Nadi, Rakiraki, Lami, Suva and Nausori are being maintained.”