132 new Covid-19 cases recorded • Two large clustersat NEP home for elderly, tuna fishing vessels |18 March 2021

Dr Louange and Dr Gedeon during the press conference yesterday (Photo: Thomas Meriton)

The Public Health Authority has identified two large clusters of Covid-19 outbreak in the country which has contributed to the 132 new cases recorded since the last update on Tuesday.

These two clusters are at the North East Point (NEP) home for the elderly and on four foreign fishing vessels, Public Health Commissioner Dr Jude Gedeon said in a press conference yesterday.

Some 51 elderly residents and 15 staff members at the nursing home have tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

Meanwhile the second cluster is among foreign seafarers and crew onboard four tuna fishing vessels with 49 positive cases in total. These vessels are operated by two separate companies.

Additionally there are 12 visitors and GOP holders who have been confirmed positive and five cases on Praslin.

These new cases have brought the total number of cases of Covid-19 to 3,486, with 513 active cases.

Around 2, 957 persons have recovered from the virus with 19 new discharges yesterday. The death toll remains at 16.

In regards to the outbreak in the NEP home for the elderly, chief executive of the Health Care Agency, Dr Danny Louange, explained that one resident has been moved to the Family Hospital due to mild respiratory symptoms.

Two others have also been transferred to the hospital for close monitoring due to their pre-existing conditions and another two have been transferred to the Berjaya Beau Vallon Bay facility.

Meanwhile the remaining 46 residents have been isolated in a separate wing of the North East Point home for the elderly and testing is ongoing at the home.

“Further we will also test all patients and staff in the neighbouring institutions, namely the North East Point Mental Home and rehabilitation centre,” stated Dr Louange.

Amongst those who have tested positive at the nursing home, the youngest is 44 years old and the oldest is 93 years old. The majority of these residents are in their 60s and 70s, Dr Louange noted.

“Two residents have suffered from fevers but most of them do not have Covid-19 symptoms. Those with chronic illnesses are being monitored closely and we are conducting checkups on them every 6 hours,” he said.

Due to the significant number of staff of the home being placed in isolation, the Health Care Agency has mobilised medical staff from other services to the nursing home so as to make up for the “acute shortage”.

Dr Louange also announced that the clinic at La Misère, Souvenir will be temporarily out of operation, as from today, until further notice, so that the medical staff there can assist in tackling the outbreak at the home.

On his part, Dr Gedeon stated that the majority of residents at the North East Point home have already received their first doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, which accounts to why most of them are not exhibiting severe symptoms of Covid-19.

As for the 49 cases on the fishing vessels, Dr Gedeon explained: “Some of the seafarers started developing symptoms while they were out at sea and some were found positive after conducting rapid tests. Once they were ashore we were able to run their PCR tests.”

“At present, the crew members who have tested positive for Covid-19 are being isolated onboard the vessels while those who tested negative are in quarantine in a facility onshore. Tests are ongoing to determine the status of other seafarers who were in contact with them,” added Dr Gedeon.

The public health commissioner described the two clusters as “fairly well contained”.

Even with the two large clusters Dr Gedeon said that the trend shows that the daily number of cases is plateauing with a slight incline in the week ending on March 14, adding that the Public Health Authority will be monitoring the situation closely.

“We cannot call this a surge. It is a plateau and we are doing everything we can for it not to surge,” said Dr Gedeon.

There are presently 18 patients admitted at the Family Hospital – nine with mild symptoms, seven with moderate symptoms, and two in critical conditions.

“Of the two persons who are in critical conditions, one has been removed from the ventilator and is receiving less invasive support for respiratory problems and is improving. The other patient, who is younger, is still on a ventilator but we are working to remove the person from the ventilator,” said Dr Louange.

He noted that this is a slight improvement from last week when there were three persons on ventilators.

Additionally, the Avani resort is catering to 134 positive cases while there are 60 Covid-19 cases at Berjaya Beau Vallon Bay and six at the coast guard facility.

Three persons are in the isolation unit on Praslin.

Since the Ministry of Health reached the end of its contract with Berjaya on March 15, the government has entered into further negotiations with the resort so that it can continue to use the hotel establishment as an isolation facility.

In regards to the vaccination programme, Dr Gedeon said around 62,376 persons had taken their first dose which is about 89% of the targeted population for vaccination. Meanwhile 39% (27,553) of the targeted population have already received both doses of the Covid-19 vaccine.

To boost the vaccination uptake, the Public Health Authority is carrying out an exercise in workplaces to determine the percentage of staff who has taken their vaccine jabs, and calling on these organisations to encourage their employees to go for the vaccine.

This exercise will also help identify those who have yet to take the vaccine and find out why they are hesitant to do so, Dr Gedeon added.

In response to rumours that there is a lack of vaccines available in the country, Dr Louange stressed that there are enough vaccines and has called on people to go and get their shots.

“Seychelles ranks just second after Israel as the country which is fully vaccinated, even more developed countries such as in Europe have not reached that level of vaccination. Vaccines are very good in protecting you against critical and severe symptoms but it does not stop you from getting the virus,” concluded Dr Gedeon.

Elsie Pointe