26th Covid-19 related death recorded |23 April 2021

Dr Gedeon and Dr Louange during the press conference (Photo: Joena Meme)

The Ministry of Health recorded another death related to Covid-19 on Monday, after a 62-year-old seaman of Indonesian descent, sadly succumbed to the coronavirus.

The patient, who arrived in the country last Wednesday, was already in poor health condition upon arrival, having suffered damage to major organs including his heart and lungs.

The death, which brings the total Covid-19 related death toll to 26, was officially announced yesterday afternoon, during the weekly press update, in which Public Health Commissioner Jude Gedeon also noted there are 469 active cases of Covid-19 in Seychelles, after 77 new cases were detected by the department of health, based on samples taken over three days.

Of the new cases, 49 are Seychellois, while the remaining are foreigners, most of whom are Gainful Occupation Permit (GOP) holders. As such, the cumulative number of cases since the first case was recorded in Seychelles in March 2020, stands at 5170.

Of the total number of cases, 293 health workers have contracted the virus thus far, seven of whom are still categorised as active.

Speaking at the weekly press update yesterday afternoon, Dr Gedeon said the ministry is observing a daily average of 54 cases, and while it is to some extent expected with the reopening of various activities, it is as essential as ever that the numbers go down, and that everyone adhere to preventive measures.

“The number of cases being reported per day, we have observed a plateau and over the past few days, there appears to have been a decrease in the number of confirmed cases,” Dr Gedeon noted.

A total of 18 patients are under isolation or receiving treatment at the Perseverance Family Hospital, one of whom is in critical condition. Of the 18, ten are showing mild symptoms while the other seven have moderate symptoms, according to chief executive of the Health Care Agency (HCA) Danny Louange. The Avani facility is accommodating 113 persons, while the Coastguard facility is holding 7 patients. Eleven are under isolation at the La Digue facility, while the Praslin facility is currently accommodating 29 persons.

With regard to the national immunisation campaign against Covid-19, Seychelles is leading the world, with 67.55 percent of the population who received at least one dose of the vaccine. In total 66,482 persons have completed the first dose of either the Sinopharm or Covishield vaccines, representing 95 percent of the targeted population of 70,000 and 68 percent of the total population of 98,462. If considered in terms of persons who have completed both the first and second doses, 53,441 of the 70,000 target population has thus far been administered with both jabs, representing 76 percent of the target population, or 54 percent of the total population.

In total, 119,923 doses have been administered, not far off from the 140,000 target, with an average of 1180 doses administered per day, representing 1.2 percent of the population. It must be noted, the immunisation campaign was launched with the Sinopharm vaccine on January 10. January 24 saw the start of the campaign for persons over 60 with the Covishield vaccine for which the second dose was distributed as of March 22.

“We are gradually integrating the vaccination campaign into our expanded programme of immunisation, so that should people require further vaccines, they can be obtained at their regular health facility. We already have a well organised and well-structured expanded programme of immunisation in Seychelles that has been in existence for many years, so we want to use that as an opportunity to ensure that in moving forward, if we want to continue with vaccination, it can be done without having to launch new campaigns,” Dr Gedeon said.

“Seychelles is ranking quite high on the global scale as regards to achievement of vaccination, partly due to our style but also due to the commitment that the country, the government has shown towards making vaccines available to its people,” Dr Gedeon noted.

According to Dr Gedeon, as a result of the campaign, persons who are fully vaccinated and who are testing positive for the coronavirus have either mild or no symptoms. Of 59 admissions to isolation facilities between April 1 and April 19, seventy-six (76) percent of new cases were either unvaccinated or had just received their first dose, while 24 percent have received both doses.

“There are no persons who have received both vaccines who have reached a stage whereby they have complications or have lost their lives. This goes to show that vaccines have their place and is doing what it should, even if the figures are maybe not encouraging to some if considered in totality, but we need to look beyond the figures to analyse it in all its splendour,” Dr Gedeon noted, also attributing the number of cases to the high rate of testing, even on persons who are not showing any symptoms.

As for the Sputnik vaccine, discussions are ongoing to determine how to administer the 1000 doses, or 500 full doses that were donated to the country.

Laura Pillay