New case of Covid-19 recorded |12 August 2020

A new case of Covid-19 was detected Monday night whereby a United Nations volunteer from Nigeria tested positive for the virus, the Public Health Commissioner, Dr Jude Gedeon, said yesterday.

The visitor has been in quarantine at the Berjaya Beau Vallon Bay facility since his arrival in the country before being moved to the isolation centre at the Family Hospital in Perseverance.

“The foreigner was asymptomatic while in isolation, contact tracing is currently being conducted for the 17 people who were on the flight with him and they will be placed under quarantine,” said Dr Gedeon in his weekly press conference to update the population on the Covid-19 situation in Seychelles. He was as usual accompanied by the chief executive of the Health Care Agency Dr Danny Louange.

He noted that the UN volunteer was not in contact with many passengers while aboard the flight and was not showing any symptoms so the chance of transmission is pretty low.

The doctors also touched on the global statistic of Covid-19 around the world with over 20 million cases recorded and noted that the epicentre of the virus is in Latin America where a number of cases are in Mexico and Brazil.

“On our side we have evaluated countries based on the number of infected victims within that country to determine if they will be permitted to enter Seychelles. What we have observed in the past few weeks is that the countries that have gained access to enter Seychelles have started to have a spike in new cases,” said Dr Gedeon.

He noted it is possible that some countries are removed from the list of ‘permitted’ countries.

Dr Gedeon remarked that many people under quarantine are not following the necessary precautions, adding that it is important for people under home quarantine to wear a mask in shared space and practice proper hygiene.

“It is important that people under home quarantine use separate bathrooms as the other people in the house and wash their clothes separately. Furthermore, kitchen utensils they are using should be kept in a separate area from those for other members of the households.”

The health commissioner also called out to politicians as they are not following the proper guidelines when they have their gatherings.

Dr Gedeon noted that casinos and hotels are still hosting entertainment night where a large number of people attend and do not respect the preventative measures in place.

Talking about face masks, Dr Gedeon noted that the final draft of the Public Health Mandatory Wearing of Face Mask 2020 regulations is nearing completion at the Attorney General’s office.

This regulation will make it mandatory for people to wear face mask in certain areas where social distancing is not possible.

Besides the Covid-19 pandemic, an outbreak of dengue fever has also swept the country, Dr Gedeon said, noting that the department of health has recorded over 3000 cases this year.

“Out of the 3000 tested, 1600 were men and the youngest patient was a baby less than one year old and the oldest 104 years old. The most number of cases come from Anse Boileau, Anse Aux Pins and Perseverance,” said Dr Gedeon.

The health commissioner also noted that since the airport has opened many Seychellois have travelled abroad. He added that they have made modifications to the travel guide that states that if someone is travelling overseas for less than a month their house will be assessed to determine if its suitable for home quarantine when they return, if it’s not then they will have to pay for their 14-day stay at a proper facility before they leave the country.

If this procedure is not conducted then they will not be given their PCR test.

On his part Dr Louange noted that there are currently 100 people in quarantine at the Berjaya Beau Vallon Bay facility.

“We have observed that family members visiting relatives in quarantine are bringing large packages with a lot of non-essential items such as alcohol,” said Dr Louange.

He also urged that the number of people coming to the hospital to visit families should be minimal as they might be putting their loved ones at risk.

Dr Louange also noted that testing for Covid-19 is being conducted at Maison Football.

Christophe Zialor