Here we go, the Mauritian government has ramped up the level of measures against the spreading of SARS-CoV-2: as of this evening, we’re under curfew:
Members of the public are urged to be self-disciplined and to cooperate with the authorities and not to remain outdoors unless their presence outside their homes is strictly necessary to avail themselves of urgent medical treatment, essential supplies, foodstuff, medicine or any other item essential for their subsistence or livelihood.
I can only assume that this step was deemed necessary because the lockdown was not adhered to sufficiently. Sensibly, we can still go out for essentials. Relevant shops are open from 9 to 15:
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.
Anyone who does not adhere to the curfew…
…shall commit an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding MUR 500 and to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months.
As of today, we have 28 registered cases on the island:
- 18 March: 3 cases
- 19 March: 7 cases
- 20 March: 12 cases
- 21 March: 14 cases
- 22 March: 18 cases
- 23 March: 28 cases
If you calculate the factor between these case numbers, from day to day, you see that we have an R0 that’s below 2.2, but I think these case numbers are too small to have solid statistics.
Mauritius has a population of close to 1.3 million. So things don’t look alarming yet from this perspective. Fingers crossed the measures in place help to keep it that way: curfew, closed borders for everyone, all arrivals a few days before the border closure were held in closed quarantine (a few hundred people).