Seychelles has, up to now, taken the number one spot for the country in the world who has the highest percentage of its population fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
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Seychelles in regression
As it currently stands, the Indian Ocean archipelago has administered both vaccines to 62.2% of its total population of about 98,000 inhabitants. The only other country to come close to this rate is Israel with 55.9%.
Seychelles is heavily reliant on tourism for its foreign exchange and was very quick to react in setting a vaccine rollout program in motion. By January, jabs were already being administered thanks to Chinese vaccines that were donated by the UAE.
But now, new data shows that a concerning new wave of coronavirus infections is on the rise for the island nation. Peggy Vidot, the nation’s health minister, said during a press conference:
Despite of all the exceptional efforts we are making, the Covid-19 situation in our country is critical right now with many daily cases reported last week.
Since, it has closed schools and cancelled all sporting activities for the next two week to put a halt to the transmission rate. Further restrictions have been reinforced, such as bans on the intermingling of households and early closure of bars similar to what was imposed during the last significant outbreak at the end of 2020.
Less precaution is to blame
Though little details were given, officials have said that the new outbreaks are likely the result of people no longer taking precaution as seriously as they once were. With measures having been loosened and more social interactions taking place—especially with Easter celebrations—cases have almost doubled in just a week.
On 28 April, the number of active cases were set at 612 but by 3 May, Seychelles saw its number multiply to a total of 1,068.
