The Seychelles is located east of the African mainland in the Indian Ocean, north of Madagascar. The population is about 100,000, a few thousand more than Kristiansand.
The country’s authorities carried out only one lockdown in April last year. At that time, business, schools, airports and tourist ships were covered by the closure.
With its 154 islands, the Seychelles is relatively prosperous and has large revenues from tourism. The average income of the working population is among Africa’s highest. The proportion of poor people is low and the standard of living is high.
– We hope to achieve herd immunity in mid-March
The vaccination program started in January, and the vaccination will soon be completed. No other state can boast of that. Therefore, there is great interest in how this will affect the Seychelles in the future.
– We hope to achieve herd immunity in mid-March. Then we will have vaccinated 70,000 of our inhabitants, says Seychelles President Wavel Ramkalawan Associated Press.
Health workers, service workers and employees in the profitable tourism industry were first prioritized in the vaccine queue. According to experts, 70 percent is an important milestone in terms of developing herd immunity.
Has focused on Chinese vaccine
The island state has chosen to invest in the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine, which is not EU-approved. China has promised to assist developing countries in particular with ten million vaccine doses through the WHO’s Covax program.
Worldwide, Israel is now at the forefront of vaccinating its own population. 71 percent of Israelis are now vaccinated.
In second place is the Seychelles with 53 percent vaccine coverage, but because the number of inhabitants is so low, it is only a matter of time before the entire population is fully vaccinated. The United Arab Emirates is in 3rd place with 50 percent vaccine coverage.
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– Then it started to slow down
Since the start of the pandemic, the Seychelles has had 2,849 confirmed cases of Covid-19, while 11 people have been confirmed dead, according to Worldometers.
The first corona cases were recorded on March 14, 2020, when the pandemic began to spread in large parts of the world.
– The moment we started giving out the vaccines to leaders, religious leaders and health workers, it started to slow down, says doctor Sanjeev Pugazhendi at the Ministry of Health to AP.
Discovered by Vasco da Gama
Islands in the uninhabited Seychelles were discovered by the Portuguese Admiral Vasco da Gama in 1502, but Arab traders were probably out even earlier.
The first documented visit took place with a British ship in January 1609, while French expeditions explored the islands in 1742 and 1744. The islands have also been used as bridgeheads by pirates, according to Store Norske Leksikon.
Strategic location
During both world wars, the Seychelles served as an important telecommunications center due to its strategic location
Large parts of the population of the Seychelles are descendants of African slave workers who were introduced to the islands. There are also descendants of Indians, Chinese and Arabs as well as French and British.
The Seychelles has its own consulate in Oslo.
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