A new Vaccination Programme has been put in place and will be effective as from tomorrow till the end of March 2021. Some 14 Vaccination Centres and private clinics apart from hospitals and Area Health Centres will welcome only frontliners such as the police, medical staff, inspectors from the Ministry of Commerce and Consumer Protection, and scavengers; staff from the private sector such as those working in supermarkets, petrol stations and from the production and distribution industries; and those in possession of a Work Access Permit (WAP).
This announcement was made, this evening, by the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Housing and Land Use Planning, and Minister of Tourism, Mr Steven Obeegadoo, during the press conference of the National Communication Committee at the Treasury Building in Port Louis.
He stated that the target is to get all staff from the essential services and those in possession of a WAP to be vaccinated. Government, he further indicated, will put in place another plan in April 2021 so as to enable more than 60% of the population to be vaccinated. He underlined that the priority of Government is to prevent a second COVID-19 wave through the Vaccination Programme.
Also present at the press conference, the Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Kailesh Jagutpal, highlighted that 130 local cases of COVID-19 have been registered since 05 March 2021, with five new cases detected since the past 24 hours. The patients are from the following clusters: Forest Side (51), Wootun (21), Curepipe (35), and Red Zone (23).
As regards the number of COVID-19 tests carried out, he recalled that 1 802 PCR tests have been conducted adding that 384 tests have been carried out today. He indicated that 343 PCR tests have been undertaken through Contact Tracing, 446 in COVID-19 Testing Centres, as well as random tests conducted. He underlined that last year, only tests through Contact Testing were carried out while this year, COVID-19 Testing Centres have been set up in Hospitals where PCR tests can be done.
Dr Jagutpal appealed to the population to abide by strict sanitary measures and to take all the necessary precautions as the situation is still serious although the number of positive cases are decreasing. He however pointed out that it is too early to draw any conclusion, hence the need to remain extremely vigilant.