Summary of news happening on Thursday April 30 |30 April 2020
President Danny Faure visits the quarantine centre at l’Ile du Swet
President Danny Faure visited the new quarantine centre at l’Ile du Swet on Thursday morning. The facility, which belongs to the government of Seychelles and used by the army before, was renovated by the Green Island Construction Company at the cost of R3.5 million.
Glenny Savy, head of the Green Island Construction Company, officially handed over the keys of this new facility to Dr Danny Louange, the chief executive of the Health Care Agency. The quarantine facility has 32 rooms out of which 4 rooms are for families. All rooms have their own bathroom facilities and are equipped with air condition.
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Airtel donates R1 million to health department
The managing director of Airtel, Amadou Dina handed over a cheque for R1 million as a donation to the Health Care Agency on Thursday April 30, 2020. It was the Secretary of State for Health, Ambassador Marie-Pierre Lloyd who accepted the cheque and she noted that this money will be used in the COVID-19 preparedness plan.
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Only 3 active cases of COVID-19 in Seychelles
Seychelles has only three active cases of COVID-19. This was announced by the Public Health Commissioner, Dr Jude Gedeon in the regular press meet today, Thursday April 30, 2020. He was accompanied by the chief executive of the Health Care Agency Dr Danny Louange.
Two of the patients in isolation have tested negative and they are now in quarantine at the Berjaya Beau Vallon Bay Resort. For 24 consecutive days no new case has been registered in Seychelles. Two other patients who were on quarantine have also been discharged.
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Reaction to article published in De Telegraaf
Dr Jude Gedeon is asking the population of Seychelles to act in a dignified way following comments made by the Dutch couple who have been treated here for coronavirus.
“Let us not react negatively and let us keep being united in our fight against COVID-19. The population of Seychelles deserves a formal apology from the Dutch couple!” said Dr Gedeon.
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Employment department proposed amendments to Employment Act
In order to provide a more robust legal protection for employees during the COVI-19 pandemic, the department of employment has worked on amendments to the Employment Act (1995) which it expects to present to the National Assembly when the latter resumes next week.
The proposed amendments would ensure that employers will not be able to defer salary payments beyond five days following the end of month nor reduce an employee’s salary, even if the employee agrees to it. If approved, this amendment will have legal force dating back to March 20, 2020.
This will be a permanent regulation under the Employment Act.
Meanwhile, as a temporary regulation from March 20 to June 30, employees will also not be allowed to undertake negotiations to defer or reduce the salary of any Seychellois employee, or request to make them redundant. The same however would not be applicable to expatriate workers.
These new amendments to the Employment Act were explained today, Thursday April 30, by Attorney General Frank Ally, principal secretary for employment Jules Baker and director general for labour relations Steve Monnaie in a press conference.
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Nars receives R60,000 from LDS MNAs
The Nurses Association of Seychelles (Nars) was the recipient of a donation of R60,000 made by the members of the National Assembly in the Linyon Demokratik Seselwa (LDS) caucus.
Leader of the opposition, Wavel Ramkalwan, handed the cheque to Nars president Rosie Bistoquet in a brief ceremony on Thursday.
All 17 MNAs representing the opposition party in the National Assembly contributed 10% of their March salary towards this donation to help the country’s fight against COVID-19.
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Visitors and GOP holders express interest to fly back home
Over 300 visitors and holders of gainful occupation permits (GOPs) who are presently in Seychelles have expressed their interests in regards to Air Seychelles’ plans to undertake repatriation flights.
Most of these persons are Sri Lankan, Mauritian and Indian nationals, chief executive of the national airline, Remco Althuis, said on Thursday.
In regards to its recent decision to venture into cargo freight, Air Seychelles has handled 14 flights of this nature and brought in around 75 tons of cargo loads.
Mr Althuis further noted that Air Seychelles presently does not have an outstanding liability in regards to unused ticket revenue since it has only refunded 850 airplane tickets – representing around US $250,000 — with many customers opting to postpone their tickets to a later date.