On Thursday 03 March, the new ENT Hospital has reported two new deaths related to Covid 19. This makes a total of 11 deaths since the beginning of the week. The country now has 158 new cases and 97 admissions, which represents a sharp increase. In Rodrigues, 103 new cases have been reported, which also represents an increase. Rodrigues is also mourning the death of a 38-year-old woman on Wednesday.
Omicron cannot be trivialised
The director of the ENT hospital and National Coordinator for Covid-19, Dr Soobiraj Sok Appadu said that Omicron cannot be trivialised as it can be as virulent as the Delta variant for people with frailties and co-morbidities.
The death of the 38-year-old Covid 19-positive woman with cancer raises questions.. Rodrigues has 18 deaths since the explosion as of 26 January. The 11 deaths at the New ENT Hospital are elder people, unvaccinated or have not done their booster dose and suffering from multiple comorbidities. The two deaths recorded yesterday were patients who were on artificial respirators, unvaccinated and suffering from multiple comorbidities. They were 86 and 88 years old. On Wednesday, the three victims were two men aged 62 and 75 years old and a woman aged 45 years old. All three suffered from co-morbidities, the 45-year-old woman was vaccinated but the 2 men were not. Of the remaining 6 deaths on Monday 28 February and Tuesday 01 March, 3 were under 70 years of age and 3 were over 70 years of age and 1 was 92 years of age living in Forest-Side. The majority of these 6 deaths were unvaccinated and had co-morbidities. The New ENT Hospital reports that most of the admissions were patients who had not been vaccinated with the booster dose, which has been shown to boost the immune system.
As a reminder, the rate of positive cases communicated by the Ministry of Health on a daily basis are positive PCR test results. However, Dr Soobiraj Sok Appadu clearly and publicly states that the number of positive cases in Flu Clinics on a daily basis varies between 2,500 and 4,000. Vigilance is still required.
Consequent rise in admissions
In Rodrigues, 12 seriously infected patients are currently being admitted to the Mont Lubin centre, the rest of the positive cases are in self isolation. The regional hospitals have recorded 92 new admissions to their Covid Wards and 5 at the New ENT Hospital. This is one of the highest single-day admission rates since early 2022. The question arises, are these freshly positive cases or are they rapid test positive cases sent to self-isolation and deteriorating between admission to hospitals?
The daily rate of positive cases via PCR test is 158 for Mauritius and 103 for Rodrigues as at 02 March, according to the official page of the Regional Assembly of Rodrigues. A total of 8,692 cases have been reported since 26 January. With 8,185 patients cured, the number of active cases is 489.
Mauritius has had 32,154 infections since March 2021. Of these, 28,562 patients are considered cured of the coronavirus. To date, the regional hospitals have discharged 87 patients and 1 patient from the New ENT Hospital considered as healed.
The 5 to 11-year-old campaign is taking shape
Vaccination is progressing and it must be said that we are just shy of the one million mark in primary vaccination with 999,892 people. 962,085 people have received the second dose and 521,861 the third/booster dose. Vaccination is proving to be essential for the protection of citizens. The Ministry of Health is therefore already preparing the campaign for the little ones. 200,000 doses of Pfizer paediatric are expected from the Covax Facilty. The first phase of the campaign will focus on children with cardiac comorbidities, asthma, kidney disorders, diabetes, immune complications, leukaemia and other forms of cancers. The Ministry of Health reassured that the vaccination does not affect in any way the development and growth of children in this age group. It will initially not be compulsory, except on the advice of a paediatrician.
