Mauritius Battles COVID Explosion Ahead of Tourism Reopening

Ruth Amaral Aguiar
Research Intern - Global Human Rights Defence

Mauritius is facing one of the worst sanitary crisis with the latest COVID-19 explosion on the island country. There are no vacancies at hospitals, resources such as ventilators are hard to find and there is not enough space at the main cemetery for COVID-19 victims in the country. In the past two months, cases have grown significantly, 1,005 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, almost double the number of the African country, which has an average of 598 cases. 
Mauritius has the largest increase of COVID-19 cases across Africa just before the country opens its doors to international travelers at the start of the peak tourist season. In July, the island partly reopened to vaccinated international visitors, who had to remain in their “resort bubbles” for 14 days before being allowed to explore the place.  However, the government reduced this timeframe to seven days in October, when they were planning to reopen completely.
Nevertheless, the pandemic remains bleak. Local media reports people ignoring social distancing guidelines and not taking cautions after getting vaccinated. In addition, the area in the cemetery reserved for coronavirus is full and they had to lay the dead in another graveyard, which made locals furious, with the claim that the victims were being buried too close to their homes. The situation escalated so fast that police had to be summoned last week when some people were throwing stones at health workers who were burying the dead at Bois-Marchand cemetery.
This scenario puts the residents of the island in a conflict when it comes to the relaxation of restrictions, since tourism contributes to 25 percent of the archipelago’s gross domestic product of the country. Studies show that the economy shrank 15 percent during the last year. Although this is true, the locals are questioning: "By welcoming tourists, are we going to attract foreign exchange or (Covid-19) variants?".

BIBLIOGRAFY

24, F. (2021, September 14). Mauritius battles Covid explosion ahead of tourism reopening. Retrieved September 16, 2021, from France 24 website:https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210914-mauritius-battles-covid-explosion-ahead-of-tourism-reopening
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