Surveillance reinforces strategy to map Covid-19 cases, contacts and alerts |11 January 2021

The Disease Surveillance and Response Unit (DSRU) of the Public Health Authority, in collaboration with the Centre for Geographic Information Services (GIS) in the Ministry of Lands and Housing (MLH), has launched a

new strategy to map Covid-19 cases, contacts and alerts across the country.

The approach collects accurate location details of patients, contacts and alerts using their land parcel number through the existing webGIS cadastral map of Seychelles, hosted by the Centre for GIS.

Members of the public can use the parcel number for their residence to facilitate the identification of their exact location and this information should then be submitted to the team when conducting investigation.

This new approach is set to greatly boost the surveillance and contact tracing of national response to Covid-19.

Contact tracing is key to identifying all possible contacts of a Covid-19 case.

As the pandemic continues to evolve in Seychelles, adding the location aspect to contact tracing efforts will further strengthen data collection for analysis and reinforce informed decision making, to stop the spread of Covid-19.

Therefore, the system will allow mapping of cases, contacts and alerts thus identify clusters, or collections of cases, and areas needing immediate attention.

Members of the public are further encouraged to provide other important information including their NIN and specific address details such as flat or housing estate name and the unit number.

The webGIS platform can be accessed at www.webgis.gov.sc/mobile with details of use outlined on the Ministry of Health YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nzhQd7FwrM or the Ministry of Lands and Housing Facebook page.

“Know Your Parcel Number Just Like Your Phone Number”.