Fiji has recorded over 49,000 COVID-19 cases since the outbreak in April this year.

Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary, Doctor James Fong says there have been 49,889 cases during the outbreak that started in April this year and 49,959 cases since the first case reported in March last year with 36,011 recoveries.

Dr. Fong says the Ministry is currently reviewing and reconciling the active case database with deaths and recoveries and as a result, the death and recovery numbers is expected to intermittently change as verifications are made.

Looking at the cases recorded in the 24-hour period, Dr. Fong says the Ministry has recorded 79 new cases with no new deaths.

35 cases are from the Western Division and 44 cases are from the Central Division.

There have been 82 new recoveries to report since the last update, which means that there are now 12,981 active cases.

Dr. Fong says 1,252 of the active cases are in the Central Division, 11,419 active cases in the Western Division, there is one active case in the Northern Division in Macuata, and 309 active cases in the Eastern Division.

These cases are in Kadavu.

He says there has been one death of a COVID-19 positive patient. However, this death has been classified as a non-COVID death by their doctors. The doctors have determined that this death was caused by a serious pre-existing medical condition and not COVID-19.

No new cases have been recorded in Kadavu.

The 53 active cases on the island are distributed between 13 villages and one settlement and are followed up daily by the health team.

Dr. Fong says thirteen patients are currently admitted at Vunisea hospital, of which six are COVID positive and currently in stable condition, while seven are negative for COVID-19.

Dr. Fong says education and awareness sessions continue for the villages and communities.

The outreach teams are engaged in contact tracing, follow-up of positive cases, vaccination, and management of isolation and quarantine activities and movement restrictions remain in force supervised by the Police team and the Vanua.

No new cases were reported for Malolo, Naviti, Waya, and Nacula, and Beqa Island in the last 24 -hours.

The Permanent Secretary says there are 179 active cases in Beqa.

Dr. Fong says daily assessment continues for the active cases and their contacts and movement restrictions remain in force for all villages in the five islands.

There have now been 566 deaths due to COVID-19 in Fiji, with 564 of these deaths during the outbreak that started in April this year.

Dr. Fong says 401 COVID-19 positive patients died from the serious medical conditions that they had before they contracted COVID-19 and these are not classified as COVID-19 deaths.

There are currently 115 COVID-19 patients admitted to the hospital with 34 patients admitted at the Lautoka Hospital and 81 are admitted at CWM hospital, St Giles, and Makoi.

The Permanent Secretary says six patients are considered to be in severe condition and three are in critical condition.

Looking at the vaccination rate, 587,948 adults in Fiji have received their first dose of the vaccine and 387,320 have received their second doses.

This means that 98% of the target population have received at least one dose and 66% are now fully vaccinated nationwide.