Category Archives: Seychelles

It may be time to retire the phrase gentle giant.

Researchers in the Seychelles have filmed a giant tortoise hunting and devouring a tern chick in a single gulp. The scientists involved in the discovery say it is the first time such an act has been caught on camera. Even they are shaken up.

Its totally surprising and rather horrifying, said Justin Gerlach, an island ecologist at Peterhouse, Cambridge in England. The tortoise is deliberately pursuing this bird and kills it, and then eats it. So yeah, its hunting.

Giant tortoises, now found only in the Seychelles and the Galpagos Islands, were believed to be herbivorous. In fact, their vegetarian diets are thought to have shaped their ecosystems, similar to elephants or bison. But in a paper published on Monday in the journal Current Biology, Dr. Gerlach and Anna Zora, a co-author at the Frgate Island Foundation, explain that there have been hints that the hefty reptiles may supplement their diets now and then. Tortoises sometimes consume snail shells and bones from dead birds, goats and even other tortoises. But hunting?

There had been rumors of tortoises stalking seabird chicks, which become helpless after theyve fallen out of their nests. But until the video was captured revealing a scene thats a bit like P.D. Eastmans Are You My Mother? if it had instead been written by Roald Dahl Dr. Gerlach presumed any such observation was a misunderstanding at best.

No ones looked for it, because why would you? Tortoises dont hunt, Dr. Gerlach said. Youre not going to just waste your time looking for a hunting tortoise.

Now he wonders what else we can learn from these creatures, which can live more than 200 years and grow to more than 500 pounds.

Its quite a mystery that they have uncovered here, said James Gibbs, a herpetologist at the State University of New York and the Galpagos Conservancy who was not involved in the research.

When Dr. Gibbs watched the video, he was surprised at how slowly and awkwardly the attack unfolds.

Its a very interesting combination of diligence and incompetence, he said.

Dr. Gibbs has studied the giant tortoises for about 30 years in the Galpagos, where he said tortoises have developed a curious relationship with birds.

The tortoises will rise up and extend all their limbs and tail, and finches will come and groom them of ticks, Dr. Gibbs said. Ive heard over the years that sometimes the tortoises will drop down and flatten the finches and eat them. But those were just anecdotes, and having spent many, many years there, Ive never seen it myself.

But theres no mistaking what is happening in the video from the Seychelles. Indeed, the scientists note that the tortoise shows signs of having hunted seabird chicks before.

For instance, when tortoises eat leaves, grass or fruit, they extend their tongues and draw the food into their mouths. But the tortoise in the video has its tongue retracted and its eyes closed signs that its wary of a certain amount of danger with this food source.

Its behaving in a different way from normal feeding, Dr. Gerlach said. Its not simply collecting food. Its killing to collect food.

According to Dr. Gibbs, that the giant tortoise is female may be an important clue to the shocking behavior. Island systems tend to lack calcium, a critical mineral for building eggshells.

So while the video of a giant tortoise attacking a helpless tern chick may be hard for some people to watch, the act of predation could simply be one way the animals ensure the success of the next generation.

Were used to thinking of them as being not particularly interesting, slow moving and probably quite stupid, Dr. Gerlach said of giant tortoises. But clearly there is so much more to these animals.

Read the original:

Totally Surprising and Rather Horrifying: Giant Tortoises Eat Baby Birds - The New York Times

(CNN) -- Researchers have captured the moment when a livelong vegetarian broke rank to eat meat -- and what made it all the more "horrifying" was that it was a tortoise.

Scientists captured the moment on video when a Seychelles giant tortoise -- previously thought to be vegetarian -- attacked and ate a tern chick in what they say is the first documentation of deliberate hunting in any wild tortoise species.

"This is completely unexpected behaviour and has never been seen before in wild tortoises," Justin Gerlach, director of studies at Peterhouse, Cambridge and affiliated researcher at the University of Cambridge's Museum of Zoology, said in a statement Monday.

"The giant tortoise pursued the tern chick along a log, finally killing the chick and eating it," Gerlach, who led the study, published Monday in the journal Current Biology, said.

"It was a very slow encounter, with the tortoise moving at its normal, slow walking pace -- the whole interaction took seven minutes and was quite horrifying."

Anna Zora, conservation manager on Frgate Island and co-author of the study, captured the ordeal, which took place in July 2020.

"When I saw the tortoise moving in a strange way I sat and watched, and when I realised what it was doing I started filming," said Zora in the statement.

Gerlach told CNN that the way the tortoise moved towards the chick suggested it was "experienced."

"It's moving very deliberately -- it's not just wandering about, it's looking at this tern, and it's walking straight at it, clearly intending to do something. That suggests to me that it's doing it with intent. It knows what it's doing, it's done this before," he said.

Giant tortoises are the largest herbivores on the Galapagos and Seychelles islands.

Though tortoises are thought to be vegetarian, they have been spotted "opportunistically" eating carrion, as well as bones and snail shells for calcium.

"It's quite common for herbivores to eat a bit of dead animal as a free protein source, essentially. But this is the first video evidence of them deliberately killing in order to eat," he said.

Still, the team can't say for certain how common such behavior is among the tortoises, and plan to study them further.

Giant tortoises are the largest herbivores on the Galapagos and Seychelles islands, and eat up to 11% of the vegetation, researchers said. Gerlach added that the tortoise's behavior was unlikely to significantly affect tern populations.

Experts said that the new hunting behavior was caused by the "unusual" combination of a tree-nesting tern colony and a resident giant tortoise population on the Seychelles' Frgate island, which is home to around 3,000 tortoises.

It's not the first time uncharacteristic lethal attacks between animal species have been seen in the wild -- chimpanzees were observed killing gorillas in the wild for the first time in 2019.

"It's probably not uncommon for animals to surprise our expectations by eating unexpected things that may just be a one off," Gerlach explained.

"We should try and avoid having too many assumptions about what animals are going to do, or what they are doing. And it really shows the value of observation. Just by watching and recording what animals are doing you can find really totally unexpected things, things that we couldn't discover deliberately -- it has to be by chance," he said.

The-CNN-Wire & 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

More here:

Giant tortoise seen attacking and eating baby bird for first time in the wild in 'horrifying' incident - KMOV.com

Bitcoin traded above $50,000 Monday; its total value now exceeds $900 billion, more than all but a handful of companies. Digital currencies called stablecoins grease ever more trading and issuance. Giant crypto exchanges in Asia offer 100-to-1 bets, often serving traders in countries where their products arent legal.

After years of relative inattention, regulators and lawmakers are scrambling to catch upbut it wont be easy. They aim to rein in a rebellious industry that has adopted the tech worlds blueprint for aggressively deploying new products to quickly amass userswhile often leaving regulatory compliance as an afterthought.

Some of the largest crypto firms are under increasing pressure. In recent weeks, Binance, the worlds biggest crypto exchange, was barred from or warned about offering certain crypto investments in the U.K., Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Japan and Hong Kong. It said Friday that all new users would have to provide an identification document and photo of themselves to verify their identity. BitMEX, another large exchange, paid $100 million to settle a U.S. regulatory investigation related to claims of illegally selling derivatives and lackluster anti-money-laundering compliance.

Yet few industry participants expect the crypto world, emboldened by a surge over the past 18 months in the value of and interest in their products, to suddenly change its ways. Regulators are scrutinizing the industry as never before, but so far coordination appears limited and key jurisdictions are pursuing widely divergent approaches.

This is a land rush," said Preston Byrne, a partner at Anderson Kill P.C. who has advised technology companies, including those focused on crypto. There are those in crypto who believe, rightly or wrongly, that moving fast and breaking things is the right approach. So far, that approach seems to have built some pretty impressively enormous companies."

The flashpoints include investor protection, compliance with rules to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, access to banking and payment infrastructure and tax evasion.

Making the task more difficult: Crypto is a global market, but the U.S., Europe and China have taken different approaches to oversight. U.S. watchdogs have wrung fines from crypto projects that dodged investor-protection rules, while Europe is working on specialized rules that will take time to implement. China has cracked down, but exchanges have set up shop in nearby places that are friendlier.

Hong Kong has been one such haven, but one of the citys fastest-growing crypto entrepreneurs says he would pull up stakes and go elsewhere if he had to.

We would love to work cooperatively on licensing in Hong Kong, so we could have a real formal presence in Hong Kong," said Sam Bankman-Fried, the chief executive of FTX. But that only goes so far: Were going to be excited to be in the [countries] that are excited about crypto."

Here is a look at the state of crypto regulation around the globe:

US

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler has called crypto the Wild West" and said more activity should be subject to government oversight.

In a recent meeting with an industry lobbying group, the Blockchain Association, Mr. Gensler promised tougher discipline if exchanges and other businesses continue to offer assets without complying with the appropriate rules.

You may look at it as regulation by enforcement," Mr. Gensler told the group, according to a summary of the meeting that was seen by The Wall Street Journal. I just call it bringing people into compliance that are over the line."

A spokesman for the association said the group supports smart regulatory guardrails" and engages with regulators to establish clear rules for industry moving forward."

The SECs chairman has also said that new powers might be necessary to prevent transactions, products and platforms from falling between regulatory cracks," as he told Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) in a letter dated Aug. 5.

That step hinges on Congress passing legislation to either expand the SECs powers or create a special regulatory code for crypto. Either change is a long shot in Congress, which has been slow to understand how the industry works.

Regulators including the Federal Reserve are taking a deeper look at stablecoins, crypto assets designed to mimic the value of the U.S. dollar. They make it easier to trade in and out of crypto assets such as bitcoin.

Stablecoins are pegged at $1 and several issuers have previously said their tokens were completely backed by dollar reserves. Tether, the most widely used stablecoin, revealed in early 2019 that its reserves included assets other than cash, including payments tied to loans made to third parties. Tether now says assets that back its value include short-term commercial debt and certificates of deposit.

Coinbase Global Inc. claimed on its website that for another stablecoin, USD Coin, each was backed by one US dollar, which is held in a bank account." Circle Internet Financial, which formed a partnership with Coinbase to develop the coin, disclosed last month that USDC is also backed by commercial paper, corporate bonds and certificates of deposit. By September, the reserves backing USDC will exclusively be cash and short-term U.S. government debt, Coinbase said Sunday.

Regulators including Mr. Gensler say that stablecoins, because they are backed by securities, may qualify as investments that should be regulated.

People have already been hurt and more people will be hurt without those fundamental investor protections," Mr. Gensler said in an interview.

Europe

Rather than subject crypto assets to existing regulations, Europe is taking steps to draft a new rulebook for investors and developers.

Known as the Regulation on Markets in Crypto Assets, or MiCA, the European Commissions plan would subject crypto exchanges to regulation, including standards for policing fraud, ensuring transparency and establishing governance standards. It also would ban the paying of interest on deposits of some kinds of stablecoins and require existing stablecoins to seek authorization to be traded within the European Union.

Some have argued that countries need to prevent stablecoins from becoming entrenched in the broader financial system.

If we wait too long, they become too big to stop. Its about protecting the sovereignty of our countries," said Corrado Passera, CEO of Italian digital bank Illimity Bank SpA and former CEO of Intesa Sanpaolo SpA.

Issuers of most other crypto assets would have to file white papers disclosing the purpose of a digital coin and how it works. National regulators, which would review the papers, could suspend the issuance of a token or require additional information.

Companies providing services such as trading, investment advice and safeguarding assets would need national approval to operate. They would also face regulations regarding information security and governance.

The EUs efforts to regulate crypto assets are consistent with its deeper focus on open banking, said Linda Jeng, a former Federal Reserve regulator and now head of policy at digital-payments software company Transparent Financial Systems.

The proposal still has to be passed by representatives of the member countries and the European Parliament and might not come into force for years.

In the U.K., most crypto regulation has focused on preventing money laundering and terrorist financing. Firms doing business in the U.K. have to register with its Financial Conduct Authority and provide details on their technology systems, how they mitigate and prevent money laundering and other risks.

Some firms have withdrawn applications after realizing how much information they have to provide to regulators and are looking to other countries with fewer restrictions.

The FCA has also nixed the sale of crypto derivatives to retail consumers and more recently said that Binance isnt permitted to conduct any regulated activities in the U.K.

After the FCAs notice, Binancewhich says it operates without a headquartersupdated its terms of use to prohibit U.K. individual investors from trading its derivatives.

Asia

China was the birthplace of some of the worlds largest cryptocurrency exchanges, including Binance and Huobi. Other major crypto exchanges, including FTX and BitMEX, are based in or have had employees in nearby Hong Kong.

But the tide has turned. In May, a powerful state regulator in China vowed to crack down on bitcoin mining and trading, and Chinas central bank later ordered its largest banks and payment processors to take an active role in rooting out cryptocurrency-related activities.

They want financial stability and social stability at all costs," Mira Christanto, a research analyst at Messari, said.

While China turned cold on crypto, Hong Kong and Singapore became hot spots. American investors often are able to access these exchanges even though their products are illegal in the U.S. Analysts have linked American users to overseas exchanges including FTX, which says it has tightened procedures to block U.S. users.

Its messy. Each government is taking their own actions here, and it is different from place to place," Mr. Bankman-Fried said.

FTX has grown quickly to become one of the biggest brands in crypto. It paid to have its name on the arena of the National Basketball Associations Miami Heat and its investors include SoftBank Group Corp., Silicon Valley venture-capital firm Sequoia Capital and Third Point, the hedge fund led by billionaire Daniel Loeb.

But like Binance, FTX has in the past offered 100 times leverage on some futures contracts tied to cryptocurrenciesthat is, allowing a user putting $1 down to make a $100 bet. It reduced that ratio in late July, while stressing that the industry views the process as a collaborative one.

Hostility between regulators and crypto entrepreneurs is not going to end well for anyone," Mr. Bankman-Fried said.

BitMEX still offers 100 times leverage on some assets. Most traders opt to use less leverage, BitMEX said.

Registered in the Seychelles, BitMEX has offices around the world. Some employees are based in Hong Kong, where local residents arent allowed to access it. Arthur Hayes, one of BitMEXs founders, once bragged that he incorporated the company in the Seychelles because it cost a coconut" to bribe regulators, according to an indictment returned by a U.S. grand jury last year.

Alexander Hptner, the CEO of the holding group behind BitMEX, said the firm is a different company now" that it is following rules to prevent money laundering.

A little less Lamborghini, perhaps, but with the same long-term ambition," he said in a July statement.

Subscribe to Mint Newsletters

* Enter a valid email

* Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter.

Never miss a story! Stay connected and informed with Mint. Download our App Now!!

Read this article:

Cryptocurrencys surge leaves global watchdogs trying to catch up - Livemint

ponant's cruise ship was the last to call in the Seychelles in March 2020 (Ponant)

PublishedAug 15, 2021 12:30 PM by The Maritime Executive

The Seychelles, which was one of the first nations to announce a total ban on cruise ships in 2020, now intends to reopenin time for the lucrative winter 2021 cruise season.Authorities in the Indian Ocean archipelago, reversed their May 2020 decision banning all cruise ships till 2022saying that cruise ships with a maximum of 300 passengers will be permitted starting in mid-November to dock in Port Victoria and cruise in the country's waters.

In May 2020, the Seychelles drew international attention when the government announced that it had decided to ban all cruise ships for two yearsin an effort to control the spread of the coronavirus. The Seychelles now joins a growing number of countries across North America, the Caribbean, and Europe that are easing restrictions and facilitating cruise lines to resume operations. Asia, including China and Australia, however, continue to delay the restart of operations by large cruise ships. The Seychelles explored reopening the cruise ship industry in March 2021, but the plans were delayed due to a surge in COVID-19 cases.

The decision to reopen the Seychelles follows the rollout of an ambitious vaccination campaign that has seen the country become one of the highest vaccinated nations in the world. To facilitate the reopening, the governmentestablisheda COVID-19 company and cruise ship checklist to facilitate the safe re-start of operations. The checklist, which was developed in line with the European Maritime Safety Agency and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control guidelines, outlines the duties and authorities of the agencies in Seychelles, the passenger terminal arrangements at all ports of call, the contingencies in case of a COVID-19 outbreak and generally the coordination between cruises and ports in relation to COVID-19.

This is for cruise ship operators to follow in order that the ships adopt minimum safety measures to be implemented in their operations in Seychelles, Alan Renaud, Civil Aviation, Ports and Marine Principal Secretary told the Seychelles News Agency.

Tourism is a significant part of the country's economy, making up the second biggest industry in the Seychelles after commercial fishing. Last year, tourism revenues plunged by 61 percent, a loss of $322 million, with tourist arrivals dropping by 70 percent. Before the onset of the pandemic, the Seychelles welcomed 384,204 visitors in 2019, of which 63,442 came from cruise ships,according to the countrys National Bureau of Statistics. The Port of Victoria received 39 cruise ship calls during the 2019/2020 season, with the last vessel permitted to arrive being Ponant's Le Bougainville in March 2020.

Currently, it is anticipated that theIsland Sky, operated by London-based Noble Caledonia, will open the season with calls to four of Seychelles outer islands of Aldabra, Assumption, Farquhar and Cosmoledo. The 4,200 gross ton cruise ship accommodates just 118 passengers.

Historically, the Seychelles also received larger cruise ships, but the government has differed a decision on opening the port more broadly due to ongoing fears over the potential spread of the virus.

Read more:

Seychelles to Reopen for Cruise Industry in November - The Maritime Executive

For someone more used to being on the road than cooped up at home, it was bittersweet for Zach Griff when he ended up proposing to Jill Golub near the house she grew up in. Bitter because Mr. Griff, a writer for the travel website the Points Guy, had hopes of planning a far-flung adventure where he would propose to Ms. Golub; sweet because that was where they would end up marrying.

Mr. Griff, 27, and Ms. Golub, 26, met in 2013 as students at the University of Pennsylvania. It didnt take long for Mr. Griff, a Boca Raton, Fla., native, to realize he had found a best friend in Ms. Golub of Mamaroneck, N.Y. He asked for her number days after meeting her at a Hillel orientation event, where students of Jewish background build community.

We would hang out all the time, but we were both just friends and dating other people, Ms. Golub said.

We would eat dinner together in the Hillel dining hall almost every night, Mr. Griff said.

Before his love for Ms. Golub took hold, another labor of love grew for Mr. Griff: traveling. If he wasnt with Ms. Golub, he would spend weekends abroad after finding cheap last-minute airfare deals.

The two would not become a couple until their junior year of college when both attended a friends retreat in South Florida.

A spark had flipped on for us during that trip, Mr. Griff said.

We started dating that weekend and never went back, Ms. Golub said.

After graduation, both moved to Manhattan. Ms. Golub is now finishing a law and M.B.A. program at N.Y.U. And right after college, Mr. Griff took the entrance exam for medical school.

I was ready to be a doctor, he said. It runs in the family, so I didnt think there was anything else to do but be a doctor.

After thinking about medical school and a year spent at an investment consulting firm, Mr. Griff came across an Instagram post about the Points Guy website. They were looking for a travel writer Ms. Golub convinced him to apply. He was hired soon after to write about his adventures, review airlines and airplanes, and provide travel advice. The couple didnt see each other much for a while, but they would make it work. Mr. Griff credits the improvement of in-flight Wi-Fi as a boon for their relationship.

In early 2020, the pandemic grounded international travel. The couple retreated to Ms. Golubs childhood home in Mamaroneck, NY, where they quarantined for nearly six months with her siblings and parents.

The time at home accelerated Mr. Griffs plan to propose to Ms. Golub. During the weekend of July 4, 2020, they went kayaking in a pond behind the home, reaching an abandoned gazebo on the other side. Flowers were everywhere there were also drones to document the occasion. When they returned home as an engaged couple, the whole family was waiting.

Zach and I had talked about getting engaged, but he said it would probably be in the fall since it takes so long to plan, Ms. Golub said. I just believed it. How would I know?

Just steps away from where they became engaged, Mr. Griff and Ms. Golub wed Aug. 1, 2021, in front of some 290 guests in the backyard of Ms. Golubs childhood home. They used her grandfathers Kiddush cup for the blessing of the wine ceremony.

Ms. Golubs paternal grandfather, Aharon Golub, was supposed to be the guest of honor at their wedding, but he died the weekend of July 4, 2021. He was his immediate familys only survivor of the Holocaust, fleeing from the Nazis to the forests of Poland, where he spent years in hiding.

He had the most incredibly positive outlook on life, which is amazing given what he endured, Ms. Golub said. He was an enormous supporter of Zach and I, and he had been really looking forward to this day.

For their honeymoon, the couple visited the Amalfi Coast in Italy, Tanzania, and Seychelles Islands.

See the rest here:

Celebrating Their Love at Home - The New York Times

National Liaison Officers (NLOs) and National Liaison Assistants (NLAs) form the primary contact point between Member States and the IAEA Secretariat for the technical cooperation (TC) programme. NLOs play two key roles: help the IAEA to understand their countrys needs and help their country to understand the IAEA. In July, the IAEA organized a three-day induction workshop to build mutual understanding and further enhance the performance and implementation of the programme by National Liaison Offices in Africa.

The virtual workshop, attended by 24 participants from 18 countries, was designed to inform and guide recently designated NLOs and NLAs, and also to support the exchange of views, experiences and ideas among the national representatives and their counterparts.

This important meeting aims at providing you with a comprehensive overview of the roles, responsibilities and processes related to the management of the TC Programme, including the contributions of the peaceful uses of nuclear science and technology in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in your countries, explained Shaukat Abdulrazak, IAEA Director of the TC Division for Africa. Abdulrazak underscored the need for commitment, leadership and strong coordination mechanisms across all aspects of the TC programme and highlighted emerging challenges facing the region that could be addressed through the IAEA-supported application of nuclear technologies. He also stressed the importance of planning, accountability and ownership of the programme by Member States.

The workshop included a review of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, the African Unions Agenda 2063, the formulation of Country Programme Frameworks, as well as presentations on finance, capacity building and programme procurement. With IAEA experts, the National Liaison personnel explored applications of nuclear science and technology in energy, food and agriculture, human health, physical and chemical sciences, as well as the work of the Agencys Programme of Action for Cancer Therapy (PACT). The legal frameworks and international instruments that ensure the safety and impact of those applications were discussed. The workshops final day focused on issues affecting the TC Programme, including ethics, awareness raising and communication, knowledge management and promoting the participation of women and young professionals.

The NLO for Senegal, Coumba Thiandoume, and NLA for Seychelles, Octavia Rose, shared their experiences, as established collaborators in the region. One of their recommendations was to establish a national steering committee with major stakeholders to discuss issues of common interest, to agree on priorities and to ensure monitoring and communication at the national level.

The workshop was attended by officers and assistants from Algeria, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Libya, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan and the United Republic of Tanzania.

As you embark on this journey, I would like to assure you that you are not alone. The principles underpinning our joint effort are shared responsibility and cooperation, Abdulrazak said. While these principles emphasize the idea of working as partners, I would like to remind you early on that the ownership of the TC programme resides with Member States. The IAEA is here to support you.

Original post:

Virtual Induction: IAEA Experts Brief 24 Newly Appointed African National Liaison Officers and Assistants | IAEA - International Atomic Energy Agency

A trip to the Seychelles Islands is incomplete without sampling the local cuisine. They are sharing some of the must-try Creole dishes visitors should tick off their list during their next holiday.

Turquoise waters, pearly white beaches and emerald rainforests arent the only riches the Seychelles islands have to offer. With a heritage as opulent as its surroundings, its no surprise that the Seychelles Creole cuisine captivates the taste buds of travelers from all corners of the globe.

Boasting a bold assortment of flavors, passed down from their ancestors, Creole cuisine is renowned for its fusion of herbs and spices, reflecting the communitys diverse heritage in each dish.

Creole cuisine largely encompasses lush spices and flavors such as chili, turmeric, masala, ginger, garlic, products of Indian and Chinese immigrants who added their twist to the French and English dishes introduced by the colonizers. For those wishing to indulge their sweet tooth, the islands also offer dishes containing soft hints of vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon and citronella.

When exploring paradise, Seychelles suggests visitors take their palate on a gastronomical voyage of discovery with some of these tantalizing dishes.

Read more:

Savoring the flavors of the Seychelles - eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News

T

he world's most vaccinated country is still struggling with a huge Covid case rate.

However, its seven day case rate remains 1,624 per 100,000.

For comparison, the UK's seven day case rate is 23.2 as of May 19.

This means that the Seychelles remains on the UKs red list.

The island's economy relies heavily on tourism. In 2019, nearly 400,00 people visited the island, four times more than its population of 97,625.

Despite the current high case rate, the island had been largely spared the ravages of the pandemic, with just 35 deaths recorded. The current high case rate has been attributed to people letting their guard down over Easter, according to the country's tourism board.

Around 33 per cent of those infected in the Seychelles have been fully vaccinated. The island is using the AstraZeneca vaccine, the Chinese-made Sinopharm, as well as the Russian Sputnik V.

Around 80 per cent of those hospitalised had not been vaccinated at all

While Covid vaccines dramatically decreases mortality rate, it is less effective against contracting Covid.

Indeed, around 80 per cent of those hospitalised had not been vaccinated at all, and the majority had underlying health conditions.

Murray Collins, Director of Blue Safari Seychelles, slammed media scaremongering for damaging the island's economy.

The spike in positive Covid-19 cases in the Seychelles are from those people who have not been vaccinated or those with comorbidities, he told Telegraph Travel.

The majority of news sources are simply focusing on the increase in the numbers and not the bigger picture. Given the small size of the population in the Seychelles, any increase in numbers will be reported as per capita, which proportionally produces a far higher figure compared to a country with a higher population, such as the UK. This results in a distorted overall percentage, which led to the UK government keeping the Seychelles on the red list and is nothing short of catastrophic.

See the rest here:

Worlds most vaccinated country still struggles with high Covid case rate - Evening Standard

Over the past two weeks, Seychelles which has been dubbed the most vaccinated country in the world has seen a spike in coronavirus cases, causing alarm and panic even among Americans who live more than 10,000 miles away.

The archipelago in the Indian Ocean, with a population of about 98,000, has fully vaccinated more than 60% of its population, but its also seen its number of active COVID-19 cases nearly double over the past month. The country has closed schools and canceled activities to attempt to curb the spread.

If a country with such a high vaccination rate can still see a COVID outbreak, what does that mean for even the highly vaccinated Bay Area?

Infectious disease experts say that, though its worrying in a global context, whats happening in Seychelles underscores how effective the Bay Area vaccination rollout has been.

Though Seychelles has been called the worlds most vaccinated country, not all vaccines are created equal.

The country used two vaccines to inoculate its population Sinopharm, a Chinese state-owned vaccine, and Covishield, a version of the AstraZeneca vaccine, both of which have not been proven to be as effective as the Pfizer-BioNTec and Moderna vaccines primarily used in the U.S.

Just last week, the WHO expressed very low confidence in data provided by Sinopharm around its risk of severe side effects. Recent clinical trial data found the vaccine was about 78.1% effective after two doses, but the Seychelles outbreak could suggest that the efficacy is less than that, said UCSF infectious disease expert Peter Chin-Hong.

Data also found that the AstraZeneca vaccine may be less effective at reducing symptomatic COVID-19 than the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Clinical trials found it to be about 66.7% effective, compared to the 97% efficacy of the Pfizer vaccine.

From the perspective of an American, Im not particularly worried, said UC Berkeley infectious disease expert John Swartzberg. The reason why is weve seen the U.S. demonstrate how well these vaccines do to protect us.

Places like Seychelles also didnt see huge COVID surges earlier in the pandemic, and have lower levels of natural immunity in their communities.

Chile is another example of a country with a high vaccination rate that now is seeing a spike in COVID-19 cases. Its number of new daily cases nearly doubled in April from the prior month, even though the country has vaccinated more than 45% of its population, according to Reuters.

But the countrys experience is another example of the importance of nuance when it comes to saluting vaccination efforts. The main vaccine used among Chileans was Sinovac another Chinese vaccine and data shows it may be even less effective than Sinofarm. The country released its own study of the Sinovac vaccine and found that it was only 16% effective in preventing infection, and 36% effective at controlling hospitalizations after one dose, Bloomberg reported.

CDC data has found that even after one dose of Pfizer, the risk of infection fell by 80% after two weeks, which aligns with the Bay Areas relative success in squashing COVID-19 so far. On Thursday, San Francisco General Hospital reported zero COVID patients for the first time since March 2020.

Aside from being less effective at controlling COVID-19 infections, both vaccines used in Seychelles are overall less equipped to handle some of the variants that the country is seeing rapidly spread, including B.1.617, the variant discovered in India. It is thought to be even more transmissible than the highly infectious variant discovered in the U.K., B117, which is now dominant in the U.S.

But even still, Chin-Hong says, most cases in Seychelles are likely in people who are not yet vaccinated, or at least fully vaccinated.

None of these factors are independent, but they all work together, and you kind of get the perfect storm when you get a highly transmissible variant, a not effective vaccine, and not enough people immunized, he added.

Still, its important to distinguish case counts from serious side effects. Most people who are getting infected with the coronavirus in Seychelles arent having serious symptoms, and most of them arent dying.

Thats very different from whats happening in India, which is dealing with a deadly combination of low vaccination rates, excessive crowding, and other systemic issues that make it harder to treat people who are ill, Chin-Hong said.

Thats the reason why its just a moral and humanitarian catastrophe, he said. Its a syndemic. Add disparities and social ills onto a pandemic and you get much worse things happening.

The world in 2021, because of the variants, is a very different world than 2020, Chin-Hong said, adding that unvaccinated people who travel internationally will be playing virus Russian Roulette.

On the other hand, for those who have been vaccinated, even some of these much-talked about variants dont seem to pose huge issues. Every one that exists currently responds well to our vaccines, said Swartzberg.

But the Bay Area, California, and the U.S. are not islands, he added. With more holidays and summer coming up, people are going to be traveling more and they already have, which of course could impact the situation on both sides of the Atlantic.

If I want to worry about something, Im worried about the unknown variant that hasnt been produced by the virus, Swartzberg said. Not one that exists currently. The best way to prevent that from happening is to get everyone on the planet vaccinated.

Annie Vainshtein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: annie.vainshtein@sfchronicle.com

Continue reading here:

The most vaccinated country in the world is seeing a COVID outbreak. Should the Bay Area be worried? - San Francisco Chronicle

The islands remain safe for travel, despite a rise in community Covid-19 cases which has prompted tighter health measures this week, said the Chief Executive of the Seychelles Tourism Board, Mrs Sherin Francis, adding that since the country re-opened its borders to all countries in late March, every tourism service provider and business has adopted strict Standard Operating Procedures, (SOPs) and 587 of the 720 tourist accommodation establishments are Covid-safe certified.

We are constantly improving and stepping up the safety measures and protocols in place to protect our guests and local population alike, she said.

Murray Collins, Director of Blue Safari Seychelles, was less inclined to mince his words. The lack of in-depth media reporting and scaremongering for travelling to the Seychelles is despicable and is having a detrimental effect on the tourism and overall economy of the country, he tells Telegraph Travel, noting that the UK is a key market.

The spike in positive Covid-19 cases in the Seychelles are from those people who have not been vaccinated or those with comorbidities. The majority of news sources are simply focusing on the increase in the numbers and not the bigger picture. Given the small size of the population in the Seychelles, any increase in numbers will be reported as per capita, which proportionally produces a far higher figure compared to a country with a higher population, such as the UK. This results in a distorted overall percentage, which led to the UK government keeping the Seychelles on the red list and is nothing short of catastrophic.

Interestingly, its a very similar story in the Maldives, a competing honeymoon destination in South Asia where again, its vaccine drive has been impressive 71 per cent of the population has been jabbed once, and 35 per cent twice. It is even planning to offer foreign visitors a vaccine under a scheme that has been dubbed 3V tourism: Visit, Vaccinate, Vacation, later this year. Nevertheless, the Maldives also has a high seven-day case rate of 1,780 per 100,000 citizens; up 11 per cent on last week. In total, it has recorded 120 deaths.

See original here:

Why is the world's most vaccinated nation struggling with a huge Covid case rate? - Telegraph.co.uk