Three more children have died from covid-19 in Fiji, taking the death toll since the pandemic hit the country in 2020 to 791.
The Fiji government also confirmed on Wednesday that a 10-day-old infant, 8-year-old girl and 13-year-old boy are among 12 covid-19 patients who have died.
There are 223 new cases in the community, with a total of 1980 patients in isolation.
Health Secretary Dr James Fong said all three children were from the Northern Division.
He said the baby had died at home before she could be taken to hospital.
He said the eight-year-old had a significant congenital medical condition that likely contributed to her death.
“The 13-year-old male was admitted for nine days at Nabouwalu Hospital in Bua before he passed away,” Dr Fong said.
“He had a significant congenital medical condition, and an assessment made by medical consultants confirmed that his pre-existing conditions contributed to his death. He was not vaccinated.”
Four-day intervals
Dr Fong said that due to the time required by clinical teams to investigate, classify and report deaths, a four-day interval is given to calculate the seven days rolling average of deaths, “based on the date of death, to help ensure the data collected is complete before the average is reported”.
“Therefore, as of January 20 the national 7-day rolling average for covid-19 deaths per day is 4.1, with a case fatality rate of 1.32 percent.”
Dr Fong said there were 155 covid-19 patients in hospital.
The Health Ministry also recorded nine more covid-19 deaths between January 8-22.
Latest deaths
* A 70-year-old man from the Northern Division died at home on January 14. He was not vaccinated.
* A 98-year-old woman from the Western Division died on arrival at Lautoka Hospital on January 16. She was fully vaccinated.
* An 81-year-old woman, also from the west, died at home on January 16. She was fully vaccinated.
* A 74-year-old man from the west died on arrival at Tavua Hospital on January 18. He had pre-existing medical conditions and was not vaccinated.
* A 75-year-old woman from the west died at home on January 20. She was fully vaccinated.
* A 72-year-old woman from the Central Division had died at home on January 21. She had pre-existing medical conditions and was fully vaccinated.
* A 46-year-old woman from the Western Division died at home. She was not vaccinated.
* A 78-year-old man from the Eastern Division died at home on January 21. He was fully vaccinated.
* A 79-year-old man from the Central Division had died on arrival at the Colonial War Memorial Hospital in Suva on January 22. He was fully vaccinated.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
