As many as 80 people are at risk of becoming severely ill from COVID-19 when infections reach a peak.

Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong says their projections indicate that the highest daily cases could reach 800 for the whole of Viti Levu.

With the Central Division being the hot-spot for the outbreak, half the total infections and severely ill cases will emerge from the Lami to Nausori containment zone.

“If we look at keeping the outbreak within the Central Division where you have half the population, then one would estimate that at its worst we would get 400 cases a day. Then you calculate that 20% of them will be sick, you can see that we will have a huge number of sick people for as long as we are not able to maintain some degree of control over the virus.”

Dr Fong adds their strategy is not about eliminating COVID-19, but suppressing the numbers until the vaccine can take over in protecting the population.

The Permanent Secretary says the seven-day average daily test positivity currently stands at 8.9 percent.

156,924 samples have been tested since April this year.

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