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Tuesday, November 12, 2024

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Covid 19 in Mauritius: Must We Talk About A Third Wave?

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Schools, workspaces, public spaces… If on the one hand the covid cases are bunching up, on the other side the Minister of Health Dr Kailesh Jagutpal has been formal, No Red Zone if the majority is vaccinated nor Lockdown to be considered since we have reached the 60% of the population inoculated at least one dose. So should we live with the pandemic as a simple seasonal flu? Is Mauritius medically well equipped? Are we surfing on a third wave that is not disclosable with the reopening and resumption of economic activities? “We are swimming in it,” deplores Dr. Gujadhur.

This Monday 19, we announce a total of 738 cases, that is, 62 new cases are added to the counter since Sunday 17:30!

Businesses affected

Even if the region is not decreed a red zone, La Tour Koenig remains a ‘Cluster’ with its hundreds of cases at Real Garments. More than a dozen Mauritian employees of Princes Tuna found positive in laboratory tests on Saturday and Sunday are not yet sent to quarantine despite living with their families, respectively. Two Panagora employees tested positive over the weekend and as a precautionary measure, 20 of them were quarantined. Another massive screening exercise will follow. In Midlands, three Samlo Koyenco Steel Limited plant employees have been placed in quarantine, awaiting PCR testing of the others. At the Grand-Gaube police station, a policewoman was tested positive for Covid-19, four of her identified colleagues will have to observe self-isolation until PCR tests are carried out on them. The police station will remain closed until further notice.

Immediate closing of schools

Three schools are temporarily closed, the decision is up to the institution itself. At Doorgachurn Hurry in Goodlands, a Grade 3 student is suspected whose father has tested positive for Covid-19. Case similar to the Elementary School of the Adventure, or a Grade 6 student who has tested positive. The latter’s father is an employee who tested positive working at the Princes Tuna factory, and is also positive. At Cosmopolitan College in Triolet two students tested positive and the school did not open on Monday.

Four hospital wards have already been in quarantine since last week, including one in Candos, one in Flacq and two in the Northern Hospital. There would have been an explosion of degenerating and out-of-control cases.

Only one Red Zone left

But at the same time a little ease, the lifting of red alerts in the areas Terre Rouge, Riche Terre, Cite Martial and Plaine Verte. The decision of the High-Level Committee was taken this Monday evening to release these zones in confinement since July 5. The only red zone remaining is Bois Chéri.

Dr. Gujadhur facing a Chinese puzzle

Dr Vasantrao Gujadhur
Dr Vasantrao Gujadhur

“Why is the government still adamant? No more Red Zones? Would the ministry’s investigations so in depth? We are swimming in the middle of the third wave. The only solution is a Lock Down of at least two weeks,” says Dr Vasantrao Gujadhur. According to him, the Ministry of Health records too many cases a day at the screening centres where Mauritians go voluntarily. Contact tracing is only an investigation that follows these self-denunciations. “If we follow the global estimation that 1 positive case is equal to at least 5 contacts, we would be at the record on possible cases in the wild. It is quite normal to be in such an increase since according to several censuses the conclusion is that we are a small country very dense with 626 heads per square kilometer. We are still talking about contamination with B1.1.318, discovered in England last February. We will not be spared from Variants such as the Delta! »

The coming short of places 

At this time anyone who tested positive is sent to quarantine and treatment center if the case worsens. Hence the specialist’s question, “Will we have enough rooms for each contaminated? Especially with the reopening of borders, hotels and other accommodation establishments?” If a student or child is tested positive, his whole class goes into quarantine and continuing the schematic, if it is the whole school, the government will have to accommodate room for these children and their respective families… Repetitive pattern as far as workplaces are.

Reopening too brutally soon

Speaking of the reopening of the country, “Mauritius should go red but instead it is welcoming tourists who come from the areas already targeted and some in red alert. Vaccinated or not and even a Covid cured individual, no one is spared from contamination. I maintain that the economic recovery is necessary but its Timing is wrong, it was a too brutal reopening. We cannot compete with the success of the Maldives or Seychelles. They are archipelagos and we are compact.” Moreover, he does not believe in the effectiveness of self-isolation “There is neither a good monitoring of sanitary rules nor barrier gestures. How to manage efficiently in a dormitory for example where everything is in common, rooms, kitchens and sanitary facilities included. The contact remains unstoppable, so does the contamination”, he says.

The Occupational Health Unit targeted

He agrees that the resumption of economic activities was more than necessary. But he asks the government if the Occupational Health Unit jointly under the Ministries of Labour and Health is really doing its job? ” Solutions do exist, but the problems lie in their adoptions and adaptations. Strict protocols are hardly respected, wearing a mask and disinfectant gel is not enough. Many factories, offices and restaurant spaces do not respect distances. They preferred a system of normal work rather than a system of reduced working hours, with all employees working at a defined time slot. The world of work requires total reengineering,” says the doctor

The GeneXpert discarded

For hospitals instead of putting all similar cases in a single room and conducting long PCR tests, “they should have introduced the GeneXpert as I recommended, which produces the result in at least 45 minutes. One device costs about one million rupees. On the quality price evaluation, it would not be expensive to equip hospitals with at least one device each”, concludes Dr. Gujadhur by saying “What’s Next?” in a sad tone. Pandemic management is a real Chinese puzzle for him, “What else to propose apart from a Lock Down?” he asks.

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