World’s most vaccinated nation, Seychelles, faces fresh surge of COVID-19 infections

Seychelles had begun the COVID-19 vaccinations drive in January (Representative image)

Seychelles, which has vaccinated a higher proportion of its population against COVID-19 than any other country, is facing a fresh surge of infections. The island nation has closed schools and cancelled sporting activities for two weeks as the number of active coronavirus cases has more than doubled since last week.

The hike in coronavirus cases has raised concerns that the vaccination is not helping to reduce the virus infection in some places, reported Bloomberg.

However, the vaccine failure cannot be determined without a detailed assessment, said the World Health Organization (WHO).

The health body is in direct communication with Seychelles and working on evaluating the situation, said Kate O’Brien, director of the WHO’s department of immunization, vaccines and biologicals at a briefing on May 10.

The Indian Ocean archipelago had begun the COVID-19 vaccinations drive in January with the Chinese-developed Sinopharm vaccine. It administered Chinese vaccine shots to 57 percent of those who were fully inoculated and the rest with made-in-India vaccines -- Covishield, said the report.

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Since last week, the number of active coronavirus cases has more than doubled to 2,486 people. Of these, 37 percent of the population have received both the vaccine doses, as per the report.

The nation has not reported COVID-19 deaths among people who have been vaccinated against the contagion, it said citing Seychelles News Agency’s report.

Due to the surge in COVID-19 cases, Seychelles re-imposed curbs last week, including closing schools, canceling sports events and banning mingling of households.

Also read | 25 lakh people in India get jabbed on May 10, over 17.2 crore shots administered so far

Seychelles' first two positive cases of COVID-19 were confirmed on March 14, 2020. The two individuals were a couple from Seychelles who had returned from a trip to Italy. Aftre this, the country imposed a nationwide lockdown in which most shops, businesses and schools were closed for 21 days in April. The airport was also closed and ships were prevented from bringing tourists.

In March, the president of Seychelles had said that he hopes enough residents will soon be vaccinated against COVID-19 to stop the spread of the virus in the group of palm-fringed tropical islands.

(With inputs from agencies)

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