A checkpoint is set up on the road to Lautoka Hospital, in Lautoka, Fiji, May 6, 2021. Fiji reported the third death due to COVID-19 on Thursday, also the first patient who died due to local transmission of the virus. According to a statement by Fiji's Health Ministry, the 53-year-old man had been admitted to Lautoka Hospital, about 24 km north of Fiji's third largest city of Nadi since April 19, when he was hospitalized for a surgical procedure. He was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) on Wednesday afternoon and tested positive for COVID-19, before he died on Wednesday night. (FIJI SUN/Handout via Xinhua)
SUVA, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Fiji reported the third death due to COVID-19 on Thursday, also the first patient who died due to local transmission of the virus.
According to a statement by Fiji's Health Ministry, the 53-year-old man had been admitted to Lautoka Hospital, about 24 km north of Fiji's third largest city of Nadi since April 19, when he was hospitalized for a surgical procedure. He was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) on Wednesday afternoon and tested positive for COVID-19, before he died on Wednesday night.
The health ministry said that this is Fiji's third death due to COVID-19. And this is also the island nation's first death for a person who had contracted the virus locally.
While stressing that as this case has shown, the virus can attack anyone and with devastating consequences, the heath ministry urged the public once again to get tested if there is even a small chance they may have been exposed to the virus, to cooperate fully with the contact tracing teams and observe the practices that will keep Fijians all safe.
It was believed that the man also passed the virus to the two doctors from Lautoka Hospital, who had tested positive earlier this week and the fear is now that the virus could be spreading. This has also resulted in the Lautoka Hospital being a full-time COVID-19 quarantine facility.
Currently, Fiji has had 125 COVID-19 cases, with 84 recoveries, 38 active cases and three deaths since the island nation reported its first COVID-19 case in March last year.
Fiji has also maintained a nationwide curfew from 11:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. local time since March last year. Enditem
