Covid-19 situation in Seychelles not receding, remains a cause for concern |19 June 2021

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

The Covid-19 situation in the country is not receding and remains a cause for concern, the Public Health Commissioner, Dr Jude Gedeon, noted in Thursday’s health press update.

Seychelles now counts 55 Covid-19 related deaths, 1,562 active cases as of June 16, 2021 and 14,123 total confirmed cases.

The Ministry of Health also confirmed that a second fully vaccinated person, a male Seychellois, who had received two doses of the Covishield vaccine passed away from Covid-19 related complications. Dr Gedeon noted that the person had some severe pre-existing conditions.

In Thursday’s press conference at the Sheikh Khalifa Diagnostic Centre, Dr Gedeon expressed concern at the increasing and significant number of Covid-19 positive cases in the country, particularly on the inner islands.

The Covid-19 distribution table shows that infections are high in Baie Ste Anne, Grand Anse, La Digue as well as in the Ile Persévérance district.

“This probably has something to do with the population density but largely also to behaviour of people in these communities, so we have to target our intervention nationally but pay special attention to some areas in the country,” said Dr Gedeon.

The inner islands have a total of 337 active cases, as of June 16, which makes up 11% of the 1,562 active cases in the country, small in number but quite high when the small population of these islands is taken into account.

“It is also significant that the number of admissions from the inner islands has increased and several of them are in severe or critical conditions,” stated Dr Gedeon.

Almost half of the 21 patients presently admitted at the Persévérance Family Hospital hail from the inner islands and had to be medivacked to Mahé for further treatments.

“The seven-day rolling average continues to remain significantly high; on a daily basis we register 150 to 200 cases ‒ the rolling trend for this week is higher than the previous week and this shows that there is persistent transmission in the community. This is reflected in the number of admissions that we are receiving as well,” added Dr Gedeon.

Director of the Seychelles Hospital, Dr Kenneth Henriette, stated that seven out of the 21 patients are in critical condition and have been placed on artificial ventilation while two others in severe conditions and are on intermittent non-invasive ventilation.

Meanwhile, there are 28 patients at the new Coast Guard hospital, the majority of whom are on mask oxygen support, 10 patients at the Coastguard isolation facility, 24 at Ile du Swet, five at the Baie Ste Anne isolation ward, six at the Indian Ocean Lodge on Praslin, 23 at the Pension Fund apartments on Praslin and 15 at Veuve on La Digue. The rest of the active cases are in home isolation.

Dr Gedeon noted that there have been increasing cases of Covid-19 in schools which has led to closures of some schools.

He noted these schools are made to close after too many teachers, students or both are infected, and staffing capacity is too low for effective learning and teaching to occur.

“We are in close contact with the education ministry and looking at the possibility of readjusting the next school holiday in August. We are looking at the possibility of pushing the school holiday earlier so that we can adjust the third term to ensure that students get the maximum benefits,” added Dr Gedeon.

In regards to vaccination, the Ministry of Health continues to administer second doses of the Sinopharm vaccine and this week it administered a total of 248 doses.

There are 1,832 people who are due to take the second dose of Sinopharm by the end of June.

Around 496 persons have taken the first jab of Sputnik V vaccine out of which 225 have also received their second dose.

Due to the first batch of Covishield vaccine reaching its expiration date a few weeks ago, there remains 1,538 persons who have yet to receive their second dose of this vaccine.

Dr Gedeon noted that the Ministry of Health has acquired new vaccines which it hopes to roll out soon, although he did not specify which vaccine brand.

The Public Health Commission urged people to get vaccinated, noting that it has proven to be effective against more severe and debilitating sickness prompted by Covid-19.

Dr Gedeon highlighted that community transmission remains high and there is an increase in the number of patients requiring to be placed on ventilators.

Also a cause of concern is that more young persons are being admitted.

The Ministry of Health continues to urge for constant vigilance and for people to not assemble when unnecessary.

Elsie Pointe