The country is experiencing a rejuvenation of Covid 19 victims. After the 2 cases of deaths in self-isolation where the Domiciliary Monitoring Unit is blamed for their delay, an investigation is underway to determine this attribution to medical negligence. On the other hand, the vaccination campaign has slowed down but is progressing. With the Nanopore Technology set up by the three WHO envoys, 45 samples have been put into test.
Younger victims
“Since 5th March, we have recorded 156 deaths from Covid,” announced Health Minister, Dr. Kailesh Jagutpal at the weekly review of the pandemic in Mauritius. This week, we have 17 deaths of which 4 were under 60 years old. Of the total, 11 were not vaccinated and 15 had various and multiple comorbidities. The DMU is accused of having made mistakes, causing two young victims aged 32 and 34. The minister reassured that the investigation is ongoing but remains confidential. “We are waiting a little while before collecting the versions of the parents when they come to record their statements at the Ministry of Health,” he announced. Nevertheless, he went on to point out the advantages for the country of the self-isolation system. He even announced that the call has been made to recruit 100 doctors to provide this service of the MISP, about 60 applications have already been collected and currently, this service is provided by 32 doctors and their assistants. “The Ministry is satisfied but the MISP still needs to be improved. We will give time to this improvement and the end of Covid 19 is not for tomorrow,” he said.
The current focus
As stated in the title, the government’s focus is on the unvaccinated and symptomatic. This population is considered to be the most vulnerable to the circulating virus, especially to the Delta variant which is well established in the country. The minister explained that there can be no revision of the protocol but that contamination can be controlled by “vaccination and the implementation of barrier measures“. Moreover, he called on all those who had already received their second dose 4 months ago to go to the centres and get their third/booster shot. He justified the non-communication of the last 12,000 positive results recorded from October 1st to 24th following the Rapid Tests. “Our focus is on unvaccinated and symptomatic people who need a PCR test. People, who are already vaccinated, do rapid tests, they can be positive one day and asymptomatic and negative the next. It would be difficult to reintroduce national screening as we are not in the same situation as last year,” he said.
Vaccination and the number of positives admitted
“Vaccination has slowed down but is progressing,” said Dr Jagutpal. So far, 903,154 people have received their first dose and 852,595 have received both. For the third/booster dose, 16,037 people have been inoculated. For the Pfizer to students aged 15 to 18 years, 29,057 people are primo vaccinated and 11,638 are fully vaccinated. The Minister said that 107,000 doses of Pfizer are expected to be received from the African Union in mid-November.
For Rodrigues, 59.2% of the population has received a first dose and 57.4% both. The reopening of Rodrigues has been postponed to 15 November as the 60% vaccination rate has not yet been reached. Currently, the small island has 7 active cases, all of whom are travellers currently in quarantine.
At the ENT Hospital, which has a capacity of 75 patients, there are currently 36 patients admitted for Covid reasons. 4 are on ventilators, 23 are on oxygen, and are under observation. And in the regional hospitals, a total of 234 patients with Covid 19 are admitted. “This week alone, we have 613 local cases and 17 imported cases,” the Minister said. As for the unvaccinated tourists, 73 are in quarantine in special hotels.
Nanopore tech sequencing
Sequencing will be more efficient with the new Nanopore technology device. “The machine is operational and the technicians are being trained by the three WHO experts who travelled for this purpose. 45 samples are already being analysed. The results of the samples will be obtained in the next few days,” said the Minister. We will then be able to know the identity of the variants circulating in the country.
