Republic of Mauritius- Mauritius steps up protective plan to fight Covid -19

GIS – 22 March 2020: In the wake of the increasing number of Covid-19 cases, which now stands at 18 including one death, Mauritius has stepped up a protective plan to fight the propagation of the virus. This was announced by the spokesperson of the National Communication Committee on Covid-19, Dr Zouberr Joomaye, at a press conference, this morning, at the Treasury Building, in Port Louis.

Among the main measures are:

• Conversion of three hospitals, namely Mahebourg, Long Mountain and ENT hospitals for Covid-19 suspected cases;
• Conversion of Souillac Hospital as a reanimation centre for serious cases related to Covid-19;
• Speeding up of procurement procedures for the purchase of protective equipment;
• Redeployment of health personnel for emergency cases;
• Government 14-seater vehicles will be converted into ambulances;
• Appeal to private clinics, St John and Red Cross society to put their ambulances at the disposal of Government;
• Set up a Home Doctor System to refrain people from seeking care at hospitals;
• Closely monitoring of Hotline calls;
• Opening of counters for the payment of pensions to pensioners who are not paid through banks;
• Government will ensure the payment of salary to all civil servants;
• Mauritius Telecom and Central Water Authority to suspend disconnections to houses; and
• Provision of free Wi-Fi to all the quarantine centres.

According to Dr Joomaye further details of the plan will be made public by the Minister of Health and Wellness in the coming days.

Dr Joomaye underlined that supermarkets remain open from Monday to Friday as from 09 00 hrs to 15 00 hrs during the confinement period. Petroleum stations, bakeries and pharmacies will remain open every day. He appealed to the public to comply with the confinement order which is the only way to stop the propagation of the Covid-19 as it has been the case in China.

As for the Director of Health Services, Dr V. Gujadhur pointed out that the contact tracing is continuously being done. He added that due to positive cases detected in the following two flights, Air Mauritius MK O15 which arrived in Mauritius on 17 March, and Kenya Airways KQ 274 which landed on 18 March, he made a request to all passengers who were on these flights to urgently contact the Ministry on 201 1903.

It is to be noted that the Ministry of Health and Wellness has set up Hotline 8924 for Covid-19.