Covid-19 update 769 active cases, 89 deaths |23 July 2021
Dr Gédéon and Dr Louange answering journalists’ questions during yesterday’s press conference (Photo: Thomas Meriton)
As of yesterday, Seychelles had 769 active cases of Covid-19 ‒ 700 on Mahé, 56 on Praslin and 13 on La Digue.
Unfortunately since the last update, the number of Covid-19 related deaths recorded is 89. So far out of the 17,747 cumulative cases, 16,889 have recovered.
These figures were shared by the Public Health Commissioner, Dr Jude Gédéon and Dr Danny Louange, chief executive of the Health Care Agency, during the monthly press meeting yesterday at the Sheikh Khalifa diagnostic centre to update the media on the Covid-19 situation in the country.
“The general trend, out of the seven-day rolling averages we have been doing, confirms a downward trend in the number of cases reported. It is also important to note that we are not at the level of pre-surge transmission level. We are yet to get there and we anticipate it will take us a couple of more weeks to get where we were at the pre-surge period. A lot of efforts will be required by all to reduce the number of transmission,” Dr Gedeon stated.
Currently there are no active cases on the outlying islands.
“In terms of the people who have died, sadly, 84% of them were not vaccinated and amongst those vaccinated there were people with serious underlying conditions. On Mahé, we recorded 62 deaths, on Praslin 24 and on La Digue 3,” noted Dr Gédéon.
Quarantine
Dr Louange shared that currently there are 19 patients admitted to the Family Hospital with two needing intensive care.
“At the South East Island we have nine patients, at the new Coast Guard facility there are 17, on Praslin five and on La Digue two. Admissions are quite low but the severity of the illness is the same. With less patients admitted, our team is focusing on preparing for the next phase and also making sure we have enough supply,” explained Dr Louange.
He has urged the community to reflect on what it should do in order to prevent another surge.
Vaccination campaign
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health is continuing with its vaccination campaign, administering the Sinopharm vaccine. There are now new recommendations for this vaccine. To date a total of 68,553 people have taken both doses of the three vaccines available in Seychelles ‒ Sinopharm, Covishield AstraZeneca and Sputnik.
“The Ministry of Health is finalising data regarding the administration of the vaccines to see who amongst those vaccinated are still in the country,” explained Dr Louange.
Regarding a possible booster for those who have taken the Sinopharm, Dr Gédéon affirmed that “we are still conducting research on this possibility and we are working closely with the World Health Organisation (WHO). For now we do not have any precise guidance on the booster, but that does not mean in the coming months we would not need one. On our side we are preparing to have the vaccine available if we need to take a booster. The booster will target mostly people with underlying health conditions.”
Dr Gédéon also added that there are three variants of concern in the country – Alpha, Beta and Delta. More samples have been sent for tests last week.
Who cannot take the vaccine?
Dr Gédéon said that only people under the age of 18 presently cannot take the Sinopharm vaccine.
“Also anyone who had allergy to the first dose of the Sinopharm vaccine will not be allowed to take the second dose. Anyone with allergy to any components of the vaccine and anyone with current active Covid-19 infection cannot take the vaccine,” he said.
When is a doctor’s consultation on benefits and risks of vaccination needed?
- Women who are presently pregnant or breastfeeding.
- Any history of serious allergy (anaphylaxis) requiring emergency care.
- People with conditions that suppress the immune system (e.g. HIV-AIDS, on steroid medications or receiving Chemotherapy).
- People with uncontrolled epilepsy or other neurologic conditions (e.g. recent stroke).
- People with uncontrolled chronic conditions (e.g. uncontrolled diabetes, hypertension, heart failure, asthma, or late stage kidney disease).
- People diagnosed with Covid-19 disease should wait for full recovery and completion of isolation, before taking the vaccine.
“We do not know what variant we will have in the future and we do not know the level of transmission. This is why we need to continue applying the level of precautions and maintain the ongoing restrictions. We have seen countries that have started to remove measures – like removing of face masks, distancing, allowing gatherings, and these have resulted in an increase in the number of cases. We have also seen an increase in cases in countries where there is a high rate of vaccination. Therefore, removing preventive measures too early can be catastrophic and have negative effects. It is better we spend more effort making sure that the outbreak is better controlled before relaxing the measures,” noted Dr Gédéon.
The latter noted that this is an outbreak in evolution and we cannot pass judgment on how a country is faring.
“It is very important for people to keep monitoring themselves. The symptoms can be very mild but please do a test to confirm. Many people are also coming with diarrhea and vomiting. If you are asymptomatic also do not go to work and repeat your test. If you are sick, do not go to work or to school, go and have your fever checked at the clinic so that the necessary actions can be taken,” concluded Dr Gédéon.
Vidya Gappy