Random tests for COVID-19 to be conducted in communities |08 May 2020
Dr Gedeon and Dr Louange during the press conference yesterday (Photo: Joena Meme)
As of yesterday, there is only one active case of COVID-19 in the country and the patient, a Seychellois, remains at the isolation treatment centre at Perseverance.
Meanwhile there are a total of 75 individuals presently in quarantine facilities under the supervision of the department of health.
The country has not recorded any COVID-19 case since the 11th positive case was detected on April 6.
Nonetheless public health commissioner, Dr Jude Gedeon, yesterday stated it is unclear whether there are persons who had contracted the virus but who remained asymptomatic and undetected.
This is why the department of health is gearing up to conduct random tests for COVID-19 in communities.
“During May and June, we will be conducting a prevalence survey in which we will extend our COVID-19 testing to random groups in communities, in order to identify if there are persons with COVID-19 antibodies in their system and if there has been any community transmission in the country,” he explained.
With the prohibition of movement order lifted since May 4, Dr Gedeon noted that the country has reached a phase in which it needs to adapt to the ‘new normal’.
In that respect, the department of health has mobilised its teams to assist businesses, workplaces, and education and religious institutions to better adhere to guidelines set by the public health authority.
“We have been working very intensely with partners in the private and public sectors, and the responses have been mixed. Some have been very receptive; they have invested time and resources in meeting the demands of the guidelines but some have been a bit slower.”
Dr Gedeon highlighted that everyone should continue to respect hygiene guidelines and practice social distancing so as to ‘flatten the curve’.
Flattening the curve means to slow the spread and prevent hospitals from becoming overwhelmed.
“We must put in place precautionary measures because we need to remain vigilant and reinforce efforts to flatten the curve,” Dr Gedeon said.
“Our objective is to ensure that the number of COVID-19 cases in the country does not surpass the country’s health care capacity, which also needs to be reinforced during this pandemic through setting up quarantines facilities and acquiring personal protection equipment (PPEs).”
“We need precautionary measures in place because we cannot deal with a sudden increase in positive cases that could overwhelm the healthcare system and our resources[…]We feel that all of the work we have done so far has made it so that we are more prepared than we would have been a few months ago,” Dr Gedeon added.
He also made note of the encouraging downward trend in the number of infections in some countries, including Australia, New Zealand and Israel.
The last three have been recording extremely low numbers of COVID-19 infections over the last few weeks which Dr Gedeon said “shows that there are opportunities for us to explore the potential of travelling to and from some countries that have reliable data”.
In response to a National Assembly motion requesting the government to delay the re-opening of our frontiers and airspace, scheduled for June 1, Dr Gedeon said that this decision was taken in consultation with various stakeholders including the World Health Organisation (WHO).
He however stressed that this decision is not written in stone and might be revised depending on the situations that arise.
“We took all of the necessary factors into consideration. COVID-19 will be a constant for quite a while and we will have to learn how to live with the ‘monster’ which is COVID-19.”
On his part, chief executive of the Health Care Agency, Dr Danny Louange, said that the department of health continues to stock up on PPEs and other equipment.
Some of the equipment ordered since March have just started coming into the country, he added.
The health department has also ordered around 400 hand-held thermometers, most of which will be going to educational institutions around the country.
The department is also looking into the possibility of acquiring thermal scanners.
Elsie Pointe