COVID-19 death

The Oceania Weightlifting Federation has announced the death of Reanna Solomon at the age of 40.

Solomon won two gold medals at the Commonwealth Games in 2002 in the super heavyweight category.

She competed at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens placing 10th overall, after which she retired from the sport.

As well, Solomon won three gold medals at the 2003 Pacific Games and she was many times Oceania Champion.

Former Nauru president and Nauru's greatest weightlifter Marcus Stephen says she set the standard for other Nauruan lifters to follow.

Nauru President Lionel Aingimea has expressed his condolences and sympathies for the family via a video statement.

More than 4000 cases have been recorded in the community since the outbreak was announced just over two weeks ago.

There are 3838 active cases in the community as of Saturday night, and 229 people have recovered.

In Niue, the number of active Covid-19 cases at the border has hit ten.

It follows the arrival of the first quarantine-free flight from New Zealand last week.

The 63-year-old woman died on the way to hospital on the island of Aitutaki, Prime Minister Mark Brown said in a statement.

"It is with great sadness that I announce that we have recorded our first in-country death attributed to Covid-19," Brown said.

"The deceased was a 63-year-old woman on the island of Aitutaki.

"She had had all three anti-Covid vaccinations, but also had several serious underlying health conditions."

"It is tragic, but not unexpected that we might lose someone to Covid.

But the Health Ministry said the death was caused by a pre-existing medical condition and not by the delta virus.

The Ministry said several HIV patients, diagnosed with Covid-19 in Fiji, were among 36,724 people who had recovered from the coronavirus since March last year.

Fiji received $US272,000 worth of anti-retroviral medicine from the Atlanta Medicare Company Ltd of Thailand on Tuesday.

The UNAIDS agency contributed $US37,000 in air freight costs.

Australia also donated paediatric HIV drugs and freight worth about $US5000.

The ABC understands the woman is the mother of twin removalists charged with breaching public health orders after travelling from Sydney to the Central West.

The brothers and another colleague received a call from NSW Health on Friday informing them that one had tested positive for coronavirus.

It is alleged the trio continued driving to Molong to finish the delivery.

"This is the 61st death in NSW related to Covid-19 and the fifth of the current outbreak," the spokesperson said.

"NSW Health extends its sincere sympathy to her family and friends."

The authorities said a woman, in her 90s, died in Sydney. She had contracted the virus in a family setting.

New South Wales reported 77 new cases on Sunday. There are now 52 people in hospital, with 15 in intensive care.

Sydney is currently in lockdown, as Australia's largest city fights to contain the highly transmissible Delta strain of the virus.

The reported death is the state's 57th and the first in 10 months.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian warned that the number of new daily infections would rise further on Monday.

The Health Ministry said the 53-year-old man, who was confirmed as Case 125 on Wednesday night, died in Lautoka on Viti Levu.

Originally admitted to Lautoka Hospital for surgery, the man from Ra Province is also suspected of being the source of transmission for two earlier COVID-19 infections.

The Health Ministry says cases 120 and 121, both doctors from the hospital, had treated the man.

Lautoka Hospital, with over 400 staff and patients, has since been closed off by the military and police.

Figures released by National Records of Scotland showed that the virus had been mentioned on the death certificate of 5,135 people by last Sunday.

This included 278 people who had died in the previous week.

Scotland announced its first confirmed coronavirus death - an elderly patient in Lothian with underlying health conditions - on 14 March

The 278 Covid-linked deaths recorded in Scotland in the week from 9 to 15 November was an increase of 71 from the previous week.

This follows the country's first fatal case last month when a 66-year-old man, who was also in border quarantine, died at Lautoka Hospital.

Local media said the latest patient had returned on a repatriation flight earlier this month and was still in quarantine where he had earlier tested positive for the coronavirus.

The man, originally from Labasa, was accorded final rites at the Drasa Muslim cemetery in Lautoka this morning.

Reports said the body of the deceased was brought to the cemetery by the Ministry of Health staff and police officers.

According to the newspaper The National, a 72-year-old man died this month in Port Moresby.

The National Control Centre incident manager Dr Esorom Doani said the man from Mortlock Island in Bougainville tested positive on 12 August and died two days later.

The man, who had a history of diabetes, was suffering from severe respiratory illness and was incubated and placed on ventilation before he died.

The confirmed number of Covid cases across the country has reached 361, with the coronavirus now in 11 provinces.