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COVID-19 update - Fourth Seychellois tested positive |30 March 2020

  • Number of positive cases climbs to 8 in Seychelles

 

By Patrick Joubert

 

A Seychellois male was tested positive for the coronavirus on Saturday evening, bringing the total to eight positive cases in the country.

The 22-year-old was tested positive while he was in quarantine at the Berjaya Beau Vallon Bay hotel quarantine facility since his arrival from Manchester, United Kingdom (UK), on March 22, 2020. He came via Qatar Airways (QR) 678 through Doha.

The young man, who prior to being tested had only fever as one of the symptoms of the coronavirus (COVID-19), is now receiving supportive treatment at the isolation treatment centre at the Family Hospital, Ile Persévérance.

In a press briefing held yesterday afternoon at the Seychelles Hospital, the public health commissioner Dr Jude Gedeon described his symptom as mild and he hoped that he might recover quickly.

He stated that the male person was among six other Seychellois passengers on the plane, among whom included a family of five. He said that only the young man was placed in quarantine at the quarantine facility at the Berjaya Beau Vallon Bay hotel, while all of the others were placed under home quarantine since the facility was full at the time of their arrival.

Dr Gedeon noted that all six other people who were on the flight and on home quarantine were contacted on Saturday night for contract tracing yesterday morning and to see if it was necessary to do COVID-19 tests on them.

He also said that apart from monitoring the six arriving passengers in quarantine, the health authorities are in the process of tracing other people who have or might have got in contact with them, especially those who welcomed them at the Seychelles International Airport among others.

He stressed that the risk of them being infected by the young man is very minimal as he was quarantined before he developed the fever symptom.

He further explained that it takes two to 14 days for a person to develop the COVID-19 symptoms but in majority of cases, people manifest these symptoms after five to six days.

He claimed that though the 22-year-old was exposed with the virus, he was not infectious around his time of travel, thus there was little to no chance he could have also infected the other passengers with him on the plane.

Dr Gedeon stated that Seychelles’ public health authority is following all the norms and guidelines of the World Health Organisation (WHO) with regard to handling the COVID-19 pandemic.

On the question of a Dutch national who had travelled to Spain and who escaped last week after being barred from entering Seychelles, Dr Gedeon said he was caught on Saturday while cruising on a yacht and he is now in quarantine at the Berjaya Beau Vallon Bay hotel quarantine facility, awaiting process for repatriation amid other offences that may be brought against him.

He declared though that the Dutchman is well and is of no threat health wise.

Also present at the press conference yesterday was the chief executive of the Health Care Agency Danny Louange, who noted that apart from the eight positive cases, there are 117 people in home quarantine on Mahé, six in home quarantine on Praslin and six in home quarantine on La Digue.

Dr Louange explained that since some individuals who had been quarantined at the Berjaya Beau Vallon Bay hotel have been discharged for home quarantine, only 80 people remain on quarantine at the facility, 16 are at the Coast Guard quarantine facility at Ile Persévérance while the Maison Football quarantine facility is empty at the moment.

He noted that the 60 people at the Four Seasons Hotel, where three employees – two foreigners and a Seychellois – tested positive for the virus, are still under quarantine. One employee, a Dutch man, is still on ventilator.

He said that they are still doing follow-ups on low and high risk COVID-19 contact individuals and 250 such contact tracing monitors were held on Saturday alone.

A further 13 Seychellois were expected to arrive last night on board the last Ethiopian Airways passenger flight to our country and according to Dr Gedeon, they were to be quarantined at the Berjaya Beau Vallon Bay hotel quarantine facility.

He stated that some individuals in quarantine facilities, especially at the Berjaya Beau Vallon hotel, are at a certain time of their quarantine released from the facility for further home quarantine, based on their health assessment, to make way for COVID-19 potentially higher risk individuals.

He stressed that everybody is confined to quarantine no matter his or her status.

Both Dr Gedeon and Dr Louange acknowledged that other than tests mandatory done through detection of symptoms, COVID-19 tests are only done on suspected cases only.

Amid the COVID-19 restrictions, Dr Gedeon stated that on humanitarian ground, a Costa cruise ship was granted permission to call in Port Victoria on Saturday night and a passenger needing surgery was allowed to disembark. He claimed the patient, who is admitted at the Seychelles Hospital, has no symptoms related to COVID-19.

Dr Gedeon noted that the cruise ship left yesterday shortly after disembarking the patient.

 

Patrick Joubert

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