COVID-19 IN SEYCHELLES

Seychelles gets warning from tough lesson in the Bahamas

Seychelles got a tough lesson in the risky business of reopening the country’s airport last week from a sister island, the Bahamas.

Covid-related deaths and positive tests surged in the Caribbean resort after its travelers returned from Covid-infested Florida in the US, causing the country to go into a new term of lockdown.Public Health Commissioner Jude Gedeon has reasons to worry because all did not go smoothly when our own airport reopened last week –several tourists were booked in hotels that had not been cleared for Covid procedures, and a sizeable number had not followed the test guidelines properly.Even Tourism Minister Didier Dogley admitted that procedures were somewhat shaky at the airport although officials put on a brave face.

Gedeon was quoted by ‘Today’ newspaper as saying that he was following developments in the Bahamas and worldwide very closely.Bahamas went into lockdown after encountering its first case in March but reopened its borders on 1st July, a month before Seychelles.

Gedeon said: “We take lessons from all countries that are opening up again from border closures, in terms of readjusting the precautions we take, the surveillance measures we put in place, and the travel advisories we put out.

“However a lot of it is cultural in the sense of whether people actually follow the advice they are given. The Bahamas can teach us that it is the behaviour of our local population that is key to determine how the spread of the virus progresses and when we get the introduction of new cases”.