Update on travel advisory with regard to novel coronavirus |31 January 2020

Stricter travel bans and measures imposed

The outbreak of the new coronavirus in Wuhan, Hubei province, China is ongoing and cases continue to be registered outside Hubei and China in spite of control measures put in place. Not enough is known about the novel coronavirus to draw definitive conclusions about the full clinical features of the disease, the intensity of the human-to-human transmission, and the original source of the outbreak.

Chinese authorities are imposing quarantines and restricting travel throughout the country.

Given the specificity of our country as a small island state, our vulnerability and potential economic impact of such an outbreak spreading in Seychelles, the following revisions are being made over the last advisory issued earlier yesterday.

• No one (apart from returning residents) will be allowed to travel to China until further notice. Should anyone insist on travelling to China, he/she shall not be allowed to return to Seychelles until the outbreak has been declared over.
• Local trade partners are advised to give all visitors from China, who were planning to visit the Seychelles in the coming months, the opportunity to cancel or postpone their holiday at no cost.
• All foreign workers who are presently in China and were planning to return to Seychelles are advised to postpone their travel until further notice.
• With effect from February 3 all airlines with flights bound for Seychelles are advised not to board any passengers (except returning Seychellois residents) who have been to China in the last 14 days.

Travellers to other places should adopt the following precautions at all times:

• Avoid crowded places and close contact with people who are unwell or showing symptoms of illness;

• Observe good personal hygiene;

• Practice frequent hand washing with soap (e.g. before handling food or eating, after going to toilet, or when hands are dirtied by respiratory secretions after coughing or sneezing);

• Wear a mask if you have respiratory symptoms such as a cough or runny nose;

• Avoid contact with live animals and consumption of raw and undercooked meats;

• Cover your mouth with a tissue paper when coughing or sneezing, and dispose the soiled tissue paper in the rubbish bin immediately and wash hands or use alcohol based hand sanitisers;

• All travellers should monitor their health closely for two weeks upon return to Seychelles and seek medical attention promptly if feeling unwell, and also inform their doctor of their travel history;

• If you have a fever or respiratory symptoms (e.g. cough, runny nose), you should wear a mask and call the clinic ahead of the visit.

Communique from the Ministry of Health