Permanent Secretary for Health Doctor James Fong says the boy had been admitted to the Colonial War Memorial Hospital in respiratory distress on August 24th, but died a few hours later. [File Photo]

A four-year-old boy has become the latest victim of COVID-19 in Fiji.

Permanent Secretary for Health Doctor James Fong says the boy had been admitted to the Colonial War Memorial Hospital in respiratory distress on August 24th, but died a few hours later.

Dr Fong says the victim was not vaccinated as he did not belong to the vaccine-eligible group.

The latest fatality brings the COVID-19 death toll to 878 in the country.

He adds out of the 177 COVID-19 deaths reported since 2021, eight were in the population not eligible for vaccination as they were under the age of 12.

The Permanent Secretary says an analysis of the 169 deaths in the vaccine-eligible population revealed that unvaccinated adults in Fiji have been dying at a rate of 28.5 times higher than fully vaccinated adults.

Meanwhile, Dr Fong says 37 new cases have been recorded since the last update on August 26th.

10 cases were recorded in the Central Division and 27 from the Western Division.