CANBERRA — Struggling to contain an outbreak of the highly-transmissible COVID-19 Delta variant, Fiji reported a record 636 COVID-19 infections and six deaths on Tuesday, with the mortuary at Pacific island’s main hospital already filled to capacity.
Since the pandemic began, Fiji has reported a total 39 deaths, but most have come since the emergence of the Delta variant in April.
Located some 2,000 km (1,300 miles) north of New Zealand, and with a population of less than a million people, mostly concentrated on two islands in the archipelago, Fiji had initially succeeded in keeping the coronavirus at bay.
The government has resisted calls for …
Keep on reading: Fiji’s COVID-19 hospital mortuary full, Delta variant fuels record infections