Only 3 active cases of COVID-19 in Seychelles |02 May 2020
Seychelles has only three active cases of COVID-19, Public Health Commissioner Dr Jude Gedeon said in the last regular press meet held on Thursday at the Seychelles Hospital.
He was accompanied by the chief executive of the Health Care Agency Dr Danny Louange.
For the last 25 days there have been no new cases and if things stay the same, the department of health will issue a press release on Sunday night to lift some restrictions as from Monday May 4.
“On Monday it will be 28 days after the last case was detected and that marks the maximum incubation period. If by 8pm on Sunday we have not picked up any new cases we will make a public announcement and our plan to remove some of the restrictions that were in place will come into effect. We have been working actively with all government agencies and many private sector companies to develop plans and guidelines that will be rolled out as from this week. They are being reviewed and finalised right now. We have received close to 25 different guidelines and plans, many are very elaborate and they define how organisations would do things normally by respecting the three pillars of prevention: community distancing, vigilance and good hygiene. We hope that the organisations make it their duty, because there will be monitoring and those who do not comply with the guidelines may have to close down. We will be issuing also a table that will define the different activities that can happen during the coming months. This will be made available to the public so that they can see their area of work/operation,” said Dr Gedeon.
As for Dr Louange, he informed the public that all the patients are currently doing fine and there are only three patients in the isolation centre. The patients are also going through physical and psycho-social rehabilitation. At the Berjaya Beau Vallon Bay Resort there are currently five patients in quarantine.
“We keep working on our human resources and make sure we have enough equipment if ever we have a second wave in Seychelles,” said Dr Louange.
He also talked about the new quarantine centre that the department of health just acquired on South East Island.
Dr Gedeon highlighted that “in a second wave we can get only one case and the measures we will put in place will depend on how the population behaves. If we do not follow the social distancing we will put ourselves in danger and we will have to go back to strict measures but if the organisations and the public obey and follow the guidelines, the measures might not be the same. With each case we have to do an evaluation in order to determine the way forward. But we are working on different scenarios.”
Dr Gedeon also said clearly that for the time being we have to be very diligent and do not think of travelling if there is no need or emergency. He also noted that if somebody decides to travel, he/she will be put in quarantine and that person will have to pay for the quarantine service.
Reaction to the article published in De Telegraaf
In relation to an article published in the newspaper De Telegraaf in Holland in which the Dutch couple who have been treated here after being infected with coronavirus spoke badly about the country’s health system, Dr Jude Gedeon is asking the population to act in a dignified way.
“I felt very sad when I read the article. I noticed that people are very angry and have expressed themselves on many social network platforms. This shows the solidarity towards the work the department of health is doing. This article does make us sad as we have taken very good care of the two Dutch patients. Since this case, the department of foreign affairs came on board and highlighted that the government of Holland has said it does not associate itself with the statement of the two persons and secondly that this newspaper usually writes sensational articles. 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! We will keep caring for any person and we will keep looking after the two Dutch patients until the time they are well enough to be discharged,” said Dr Gedeon.
Dr Louange noted that “any tourist that is being cared for by the Seychelles Hospital has to pay for his/her treatment. Already there were talks about how to settle the bill. In Seychelles, we treat people first then talk about the bill! We salute the group of staff who were brave enough to work with the first case of COVID-19 and so far no one got infected.”
Dr Gedeon concluded by stating that all these measures are being taken after consultation with a group of people including the president.
Vidya Gappy