The Ministry of Health recorded 46 new cases of COVID-19 in the Eastern Division, all contacts of the index case from Rakiraki Village, Yale, Kadavu.

Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong says 45 of these new cases are from the same village, while one case is from Naioti Village.

All of these cases have been isolated.

The 46 are part of the 485 new cases of COVID-19 reported in the 24 hour period ending at 8am yesterday.

Dr Fong says 251 of the cases are from the Western Division and the other 188 cases are from the Central Division.

The Ministry also recorded 11 new COVID-19 deaths for the period of August 13th-18th with all deaths reported from the Western Division.

The first COVID-19 death is a 68-year-old man from Sigatoka. He presented to the Sigatoka Sub-Divisional Hospital in severe respiratory distress and was transferred from Sigatoka Sub-Divisional Hospital to Lautoka Hospital.

He died seven days after admission and he was not vaccinated.

The second COVID-19 death is a 68-year-old man from Lautoka who presented to the Lautoka Hospital in respiratory distress. He was not fully vaccinated.

The third COVID-19 death is a 73-year-old man from Lautoka who presented to the Lautoka Hospital in respiratory distress. He was not fully vaccinated.

The fourth COVID-19 death is an 84-year-old man from Rakiraki who died at home. He was not vaccinated.

The fifth COVID-19 death is a 72-year-old woman from Sigatoka who died at home. She was not vaccinated.

The sixth COVID-19 death to report is a 59-year-old man from Sigatoka. He was declared dead on arrival by the attending medical officer at the Sigatoka Sub-Divisional Hospital. He was not vaccinated.

The seventh COVID-19 death is a 64-year-old man from Nadi. He was declared dead on arrival by the attending medical officer at the Nadi Hospital. He was not vaccinated.

The eighth COVID-19 death to report is a 52-year-old man from Nadi. He was transferred from an Isolation facility in Nadi to the Lautoka Hospital. He was noted to be in severe respiratory distress.

Sadly, he died three days after admission at the Lautoka Hospital. He was not fully vaccinated.

The ninth COVID-19 death is a 95-year-old woman from Sigatoka who died at home. She was not vaccinated.

The tenth COVID-19 death is a 57-year-old woman from Nadi. She presented to the Nadi Hospital in severe respiratory distress. She was not fully vaccinated.

The eleventh COVID-19 death is an 86-year-old man from Lautoka who died at home. He was not vaccinated.

Dr Fong says there have been 14 more deaths of COVID-19 positive patients whose deaths have been classified as non-COVID deaths by their doctors.

With today’s newly reported deaths, there are now 432 deaths due to COVID-19 in Fiji, with 430 of these deaths during the outbreak that started in April this year.

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