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The <keyword id="43588" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="world-health-organization" source="Orion">World Health Organization</keyword> and its member states in the South-East Asia Region and across the world marked the second Cervical Cancer Elimination Day of Action on Thursday. Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer among women with an estimated 604,000 new cases and 342,000 deaths in 2020, of which the <keyword id="2078757" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="south-east-region" source="Orion">South East Region</keyword> accounted for 32 per cent and 34 per cent, respectively, said Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia. "Vaccination of girls against human papillomavirus (<keyword id="102327" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="hpv" source="Orion">HPV</keyword>), screening and treatment of pre-cancer lesions, and improved access to diagnosis and treatment of invasive cancers are critical, cost-effective measures that policymakers should urgently apply to eliminate cervical cancer as a public health problem," WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia said on the occasion. Dr Singh said that the countries of the region continue to make steady and sustained progress against cervical cancer, in line with the Region's Flagship Priority on preventing and controlling non-communicable diseases, as well as the 2021 Regional Implementation Framework on eliminating cervical cancer as a public health problem. "Five Member States - Bhutan, Maldives, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand - have introduced nation-wide HPV vaccination, which Bangladesh, India and Timor-Leste will soon also introduce. HPV vaccination has been introduced in several provinces of Indonesia, protecting tens of millions of girls," Dr Singh said. The gaps and challenges nevertheless persist, which if unaddressed, will prevent the Region from achieving the global 90-70-90 targets: that is, by 2030, ensure that 90 per cent of girls are fully vaccinated with HPV vaccine; that 70 per cent of women are screened using a high-performance test by 35 years of age, and again by 45 years of age; that 90 per cent of women identified with cervical disease or pre-cancer are treated; and that 90 per cent of women with invasive cancer are effectively managed, said <keyword id="2283768" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="south-east" source="Orion">South East</keyword> Director. Dr Singh said that the WHO has called for action in several key areas to achieve the elimination target of four or fewer cases per 100,000 women. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/health/news/health-ministry-rejects-claim-covaxin-was-rushed-due-to-political-pressure/articleshow/95576897.cms">Health Ministry rejects claim 'Covaxin was rushed due to political pressure'</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/100-startups-registered-with-isro-to-work-in-space-tech-domains-chairman/articleshow/95578146.cms">100 startups registered with ISRO to work in space tech domains: Chairman</a>

Cervical cancer 4th most common among women, policymakers should urgently move to eliminate: WHO

<ul><li>Bangladesh has appealed to the Indian government to withdraw the ban imposed on <keyword id="6484394" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Onion-export">onion export</keyword> as soon as possible, keeping the import flow of <keyword id="50894" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Onion">onion</keyword> from India uninterrupted </li><li>Veteran Indian politician and Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar has also requested the Indian government to lift ban on onion exports, saying "this decision has led to strong reactions from the onion growing belt in Maharashtra". </li><li>The ban jeopardises India's export share in the onion markets of Gulf countries, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, he tweeted.</li></ul>Bangladesh has appealed to the Indian government to withdraw the ban imposed on onion export as soon as possible, keeping the import flow of onion from India uninterrupted. State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam said on Tuesday: "We are expecting a positive result soon in this regard, Dhaka has requested New Delhi to revoke its ban on onion export as India earlier had made an 'unofficial' pledge to Bangladesh of a continuing supply of onion here." The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) of India on Monday issued a notification imposing restrictions on onion export with immediate effect. This decision has posed a negative impact on onion markets in Bangladesh. Veteran Indian politician and Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar has also requested the Indian government to lift ban on onion exports, saying "this decision has led to strong reactions from the onion growing belt in Maharashtra". The ban jeopardises India's export share in the onion markets of Gulf countries, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, he tweeted. Alam said there is an "unwritten" understanding between Bangladesh and India that New Delhi would not impose a ban on onion export and if New Delhi takes such a decision, they would inform Dhaka beforehand. Being informed about India government's decision of imposing ban on onion export last night, the State Minister said Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi has raised the issue to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs immediately. Alam also added that the Commerce ministry of Bangladesh is looking into the onion import issue. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/health/news/-indias-surging-covid-19-infections-is-testing-the-health-infra-once-again/articleshow/78143000.cms">India’s surging COVID-19 infections is testing the health infra once again — beds added during lockdown aren’t enough</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/health/news/we-wont-have-enough-covid-19-vaccine-for-everybody-until-2024-warns-worlds-largest-vaccine-producer/articleshow/78111779.cms">We won't have enough COVID-19 vaccine for everybody until 2024, warns world's largest vaccine producer</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/amid-india-china-standoff-tencent-is-back-with-an-investment-in-flipkart/articleshow/78140794.cms">Amid India-China standoff, Tencent is back with an investment in Flipkart</a>

Bangladesh requests India to withdraw ban on onion export

The <keyword id="129260" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bangladesh-army">Bangladesh Army</keyword> on Sunday said some 3,500 soldiers would maintain their presence on the streets to strictly enforce social distancing to combat the coronavirus threat and would return to their barracks only on the orders of the government. Chief of Army Staff General Aziz Ahmed said that his troops would do "everything possible" under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's leadership to fight the deadly coronavirus pandemic as their presence on the streets appeared to have "highly energised" the common people and the civil administration. The virus has claimed the lives of five people and infected 48 others in the country, according to health officials. The Army will render its service in aid to civil power as long as the government wants, the Daily Sun newspaper quoted the four-star general as saying. General Ahmed said that the troops' deployment seemed to have mentally relieved the people and the officials amid fears about the course of the pandemic in the coming days. Prime Minister Hasina called the campaign against COVID-19 a "war" as her government has called out the armed forces to assist nationwide the administration in combating the pandemic in the country. A defence ministry spokesman, meanwhile, said that some 3,000 military personnel and 400 Navy troopers were deployed across the country mainly to enforce "social distancing" while the Air Force was kept ready for ferrying men and medical aid to any part of Bangladesh. He said that the new batches of troops will replace periodically the personnel already deployed on the COVID-19 duty while the previous ones would be quarantined on return to their barracks for safety. Defence ministry's inter service public relations directorate earlier said that the personnel would prepare lists of coronavirus-infected persons, extend cooperation to the local administrations to ensure quarantining of people who returned from abroad alongside enforcing the social distancing. The troops are seen patrolling the streets in capital Dhaka and other cities mounting megaphones on their vehicles to ask people to stay indoors and disperse usual neighbourhood crowds. Authorities apparently ordered a nationwide virtual lockdown shutting offices, businesses and halting all modes of public transports this week days after closing schools and restricting overseas flight operations. Bangladesh declared a 10-day nationwide holiday beginning March 26 in view of the COVID-19 outbreak, and called in Army troops to enforce social distancing as the World Health Organisation (WHO) called it the most crucial means to prevent the spread of the virus. The country has called in the armed forces in the past as well especially during floods and cyclones in aid of the civil administration. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/coranavirus-cases-in-kerala-news-and-updates/articleshow/74775194.cms">Coronavirus cases in Kerala news and updates</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/coranavirus-cases-in-tamil-nadu-news-and-updates/articleshow/74785909.cms">Coronavirus cases in Tamil Nadu news and updates</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/coronavirus-cases-in-haryana-news-and-updates/articleshow/74771116.cms">Coronavirus cases in Haryana news and updates</a>

Around 3,500 soldiers will stay on the streets of Bangladesh to enforce social distancing as Coronavirus cases hit 48

<ul><li>An increase in the health and family welfare budget by at least 50% at the state and central level is imperative.</li><li>We currently have only one Auxiliary Nurse Midwife for a population of 5,000 or five villages.</li><li>India urgently needs a robust public health management cadre on the lines of IAS and IPS etc.</li></ul>The dwindling number of COVID-19 cases per day is, undoubtedly, excellent news for India. Plus, the vaccination drive is on, which will aid in building herd immunity and protecting the most vulnerable. If we can expand the vaccination drive rapidly, there will be no chance of a second wave in India and COVID-19 will be finished by summer. The question now is what can we learn from the pandemic and how can we consolidate these public health gains via this year's budget. An increase in the health and family welfare budget by at least 50% at the state and central level is imperative. Our aim should be to reach 3% of GDP for health from the current 1.2% or so in the next five years. Most of this money should strengthen primary care at the village level and improve public health services. As a public health expert, here’s my wishlist for the <keyword id="8420431" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="budget-2021">budget 2021</keyword>. <div type="image" title="Quote002 (1)" msid="80551267" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Dr.Dileep Mavalankar&amp;#39;s wishlist for the budget 2021&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> 1. Government's commitment to one qualified primary care nurse per village Currently, we have one Auxiliary Nurse Midwife for a population of 5,000 or five villages. We have recently added a Community Health Officer (CHO) at this level who is a nurse Ayurveda doctor trained for a further six months. India is producing enough nurses to staff all of its villages with at least one nurse. Appointing one nurse per village will ensure around the clock presence of a primary healthcare provider in each village. For context, China did this in the 1970s, Bangladesh in the 1980s and Nepal also has a similar provision. An ASHA worker per village is not enough – she is a partly-paid volunteer. We desperately need preventive and curative care professionals at the village level. The cost will be around ₹25,000 per nurse per month in 500,000 villages which come to ₹15,000 crore annually. The implementation can be phased, and the state and central govt can share the cost. But it is an essential move so that villagers can receive services of vital healthcare at their doorstep. 2. Strengthen primary care centres (PHC) and urban health centres with public health officers' appointment Currently, we have medical officers with MBBS degrees for primary care centres. However, there are many places where MBBS doctors are not available, and the posts lay vacant. More than half of the work of PHCs is to manage public health programs such as immunization, maternal and child health, environmental sanitation, malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases, surveillance and monitoring of diseases and epidemics etc. For such public health program management, a clinical doctor is not essential or desirable. A public health officer with a Master of Public Health degree is sufficient. So the suggestion is to have a post of public health officers at each PHC besides a medical officer. For the whole of India, we will need 30,000 such public health officers. At an average salary of ₹55,000 per month, this will cost the government about ₹1980 crore. The benefits will be immense. All national public health programs will be managed better – with better quality, coverage and outcomes. Moreover, the MBBS medical officer can fully devote his or her time to clinical medical services to providing good quality clinical care that is currently unavailable since they spend more than half of their time in public health programs. This will also boost the medical officers' morale as they are not trained to do public health work that they have to do in a PHC. 3. Instituting a public health management central services cadre To plan, organize and monitor our public health actions, including for diseases like COVID-19, India urgently needs a robust public health management cadre on the lines of IAS, IPS, IFS and other central services. Each district should have five to seven such centrally selected public health cadre post officers with similar posts at state and national level. They should have pay and other facilities in lines with other central services. Currently, the district, taluka and city-level public health posts are filled variably by medical doctors, specialists and some non-doctors due to unclear recruitment and promotions rules in various public health departments of states and cities. Even at the national level, there are very few public health officers. The entire pandemic was managed by generalist administrators and specialist medical doctors without much input from public health experts and infectious diseases or epidemiology experts. For a national public health cadre, India will need a minimum of five officers per district, which will come to 3,695 officers for district level. We need to add about 1000 officers at the state and city level, and the total will come to 4,695 officers. At an average salary of ₹1,50,000 per month, such cadre at the national level will cost about ₹845 crore per year. Such cadre will improve public health management at ground level in each district and city. 4. Strengthen public health institutes that are not AIIMS The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) is not a public health institute; it is a medical care apex institute, and their advice on how to care for coronavirus patients may be the best. However, we rarely heard the voices from experts from All Indian Institute of Hygiene and Public health (AIIHPH) or National Center for Communicable diseases (NCDC), or an additional director general of public health in India or any of the states during the pandemic. We also hear from cardiologists and pathologies from the private sector, but from very few public health experts. There is no doubt that IAS officers are essential for inter-sectoral administrative actions on a large scale, which are needed during major catastrophes. But the technical strategies for controlling an epidemic is the job of epidemiologists and public health officers. We hope that through this budget the government will plan to improve our institutions dedicated to public health like NCDC, AIIHPH, Indian Institutes of Public Health and other schools of public health and public health divisions in the ministry of health. A provision of ₹2000 crore to strengthen public health institutions and division in the country should be made in the budget. If implemented in this budget, these suggestions will go a long way to strengthen our medical care and public health system in the country. This will reduce the possibility of future pandemics and increase our ability to deal with it in a better manner. Due to the pandemic, the economic and social loss should make the policymakers willing to invest in public health in this and subsequent budgets. *The author is the Director of Indian Institute of Public Health, Gandhinagar. Views expressed here are personal. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/budget/news/glee-s-t-january-2021-gst-collection-may-have-beat-the-december-record/articleshow/80512714.cms">Glee.S.T! January 2021 GST collection may have beat the December record</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/budget/news/prime-minister-narendra-modi-signals-big-defence-budget-allocation-for-make-in-india/articleshow/80511082.cms">India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi may just have signalled a big allocation for defence equipment manufacturing, 3 days before the budget</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/budget/news/india-needs-to-add-massive-amount-of-solar-and-wind-power-capacity-this-year-to-meet-its-first-target/articleshow/80496138.cms">India needs to add massive amount of solar and wind power capacity this year to meet its first target</a>

A public health expert shares a ₹20,000 crore plan to improve India’s health infrastructure including a dedicated cadre

The Pune based vaccines manufacturer <keyword id="95879" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Serum-Institute-of-India" source="Orion">Serum Institute of India</keyword> (SII) has got the nod to export <keyword id="9156974" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Covid-vaccines" source="Orion">Covid vaccines</keyword> under the COVAX programme, said a source on Monday. The ministry has allowed SII to export 50 lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccine Covishield to the COVAX, an UN Global body. COVAX is co-led by Gavi, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the <keyword id="43588" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="World-Health-Organization" source="Orion">World Health Organization</keyword> that aims to accelerate the development and manufacture of Covid vaccines. Covax facility was created to ensure global equitable access to <keyword id="9078985" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="COVID-19-vaccines" source="Orion">Covid-19 vaccines</keyword> after the outbreak of Covid pandemic. The first batch of the vaccines will be exported to Nepal, Tajikistan and Mozambique, official sources said. The SII will also export Covishield to Bangladesh under COVAX. The Serum Institute can begin the vaccine export from November 23. Union Health Minister <keyword id="2607815" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mansukh-Mandaviya" source="Orion">Mansukh Mandaviya</keyword> had announced that India will be resuming export of vaccines under Vaccine Maitri in the fourth quarter starting from October. He had said that vaccine export will resume to fulfill the commitment of India towards COVAX in line with the motto 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam'. India stopped the Covid-19 vaccines in April this year after a severe surge in Covid case during the second wave to jab its own population. However, prior to the export ban, India had either sold or donated 66 million doses to nearly 100 countries. While announcing to resume the vaccine exports under Vaccine Maitri program, the Health Minister said that the surplus supply of vaccines will be used to fulfill the commitment towards the world for the collective fight against Covid-19. While India has achieved 82 per cent vaccination coverage for the first dose, the second vaccine coverage remains under 60 per cent. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/latent-view-ipo-may-list-on-a-positive-note-despite-a-weak-market/articleshow/87850476.cms">Latent View IPO that got bigger traction than Paras Defence may list on a positive note despite a weak market</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/investment/news/which-crypto-to-buy-today-amid-crypto-market-crash-depends-on-the-type-of-investor-you-are/articleshow/87849963.cms">Crypto market sees red — where you invest next will depend on the kind of crypto investor you are</a>

Serum Institute of India gets nod to export COVID-19 vaccines under the COVAX programme, says source

<ul><li>On 11 October, the <keyword id="6354424" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="world-bank">World Bank</keyword> released its first ever <keyword id="318873" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Human-Capital">Human Capital</keyword> Index (HCI), which measures how well countries enable the development of their human resources. </li><li>Singapore topped the list while <keyword id="3658" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="India">India</keyword> came in at 115th, below Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Myanmar. </li><li>India’s Ministry of the Finance criticised the report, saying that its metrics were simplistic and that it hadn’t taken a number of government programmes into consideration. </li></ul>On 11 October, the World Bank released its first ever <a href="http://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/human-capital">Human Capital Index</a> (HCI), which measures how well countries enable the development of their human resources and how much they stand to lose in terms of GDP by foregoing investment in <keyword id="6354750" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="health">health</keyword> and <keyword id="6355445" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="education">education</keyword>. The goal of the report is to get finance ministers to think beyond short-term election cycles and focus more on children by allocating higher funds to healthcare and skill development. The World Bank hopes the index will become as popular as its Ease of Doing Business index. The HCI report assessed 157 countries on a number of indicators, ranging from child mortality, nutrition and stunting, average years of schooling and harmonised test scores. Each country was assigned a score from 0 to 1, with 1 denoting the best health and education outcomes possible. The list was led by Asian countries. Singapore came first, owing to the strength of its universal healthcare system, followed by South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong. Finland came fifth while the US came 24th. The bottom of the list was predominantly rounded out by African countries - Chad, South Sudan and Niger. Critics of the report said that it was an exercise in <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/world-bank-aims-to-shame-with-human-capital-ranking-1539267790">shaming developing countries</a> for not investing enough in people. India came in at a lowly 115th, even below the likes of its smaller neighbours Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal. The report predicted that children in India would only be <a href="http://databank.worldbank.org/data/download/hci/HCI_2pager_IND.pdf">44%</a> as productive in adulthood compared to a scenario where all their education and health requirements were met. As expected, the Indian government wasn’t happy with the results of the report. In <a href="http://www.pib.nic.in/PressReleseDetail.aspx?PRID=1549460">a press release</a>, the Ministry of Finance said that it had “serious reservations” about the way the index had been compiled. The finance ministry explained that the World Bank had failed to take into account the government’s various development initiatives like the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, which focuses on all 13 years of schooling and merges three separate public education schemes, and the recently-launched Ayushman Bharat health insurance programme. It also said that schemes like the Aadhar programme, the largest biometric identification scheme in the world, and the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, which aims to give every unbanked citizen a formal bank account, had gone a long in way in enabling financial inclusion and social protection. The government also said that metrics of the HCI were “simplistic” and “ignorant of development realities” and that the data used to gauge the quality of education was outdated. The statement concluded on a defiant note with the government saying that it planned to ignore the index.

India has “serious reservations” about the World Bank’s new Human Capital Index, which ranked it 115 out of 157 countries

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="63095" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Seychelles">Seychelles</keyword> and the <keyword id="6354908" type="LOCATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="maldives">Maldives</keyword> have reported <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/world/coronavirus-maps.html#countries">the highest seven-day rate of COVID-19 cases</a> in the world.</li><li>Both island nations have been praised for their vaccination efforts and for <a href="https://www.insider.com/seychelles-travel-covid-no-quarantine-or-vaccine-2021-3">reopening tourism</a>.</li><li>Now they're tightening restrictions but still allowing in <keyword id="6356001" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="international">international</keyword> tourists.</li></ul>Two island nations praised for their efforts in vaccinations and reopening <keyword id="20048" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="tourism">tourism</keyword> during the coronavirus pandemic are now facing surges in new cases.Seychelles and the Maldives, both known for luxury resorts and white sandy beaches, have reported more new <keyword id="8763838" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="covid-19">COVID-19</keyword> cases per 100,000 people in the past seven days than any other countries, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/world/coronavirus-maps.html">The New York Times' coronavirus tracker</a>.Seychelles, the <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-10/world-s-most-vaccinated-nation-says-active-covid-cases-surge?sref=BLKWHazc">world's most vaccinated nation</a>, has reported a daily average of 336 new cases per 100,000 people in the past seven days - the highest rate in the world. Just behind that is the Maldives, which has reported a daily average of 153 new cases per 100,000 residents in the past week.Both countries have tightened COVID-19 restrictions, with Seychelles closing schools, the Maldives shuttering government offices, and both imposing a nightly curfew. Both countries are also still welcoming most international tourists.Seychelles' minister for foreign affairs and tourism, Sylvestre Radegonde, was not immediately available for an interview for this story. The Maldives' tourism minister did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<div type="image" title="seychelles covid" height="1735" width="2313" msid="82546112" hostid="261"></div><h2>Tourism and vaccination success stories</h2>The two countries, both of which rely on tourism, had been seen as successful models of vaccination and reopening to tourists.Seychelles was the <a href="http://tourism.gov.sc/2021/01/15/national-covid-19-immunisation-campaign-begins-in-seychelles/">first African country</a> to start rolling out a vaccination program in January, according to the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Tourism. Five months later, it's the world's most vaccinated nation, with <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/covid-vaccine-tracker-global-distribution/?sref=BLKWHazc">62.9% of its roughly 100,000 residents fully vaccinated</a>, according to Bloomberg's Vaccine Tracker.In late March, <a href="https://www.insider.com/seychelles-travel-covid-no-quarantine-or-vaccine-2021-3">Seychelles reopened its borders</a> to international tourists with no vaccine or quarantine required - just a negative COVID-19 test. Since then, <a href="https://www.mfa.gov.sc/news/2225/travel-to-seychelles-uninterrupted-despite-strict-health-measures">more than 20,000 tourists have visited</a>, the country's tourism ministry said last week.Then there's the Maldives, which CNN <keyword id="6354692" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Travel">Travel</keyword> in February called the world's "<a href="https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/maldives-tourism-arrivals-coronavirus-intl-hnk/index.html">biggest 2020 international tourism success story</a>."<a href="https://www.unwto.org/node/11812">More than 555,000 tourists visited the Maldives</a> last year, surpassing the nation's expectations of 500,000 visitors by the end of the year. That's still less than half of its typical 1.7 million visitors each year, but those who did come stayed much longer than usual, with some <a href="https://www.travelandleisure.com/trip-ideas/island-vacations/nautilus-maldives-luxury-resort-buyout">booking out entire islands</a>.<div type="image" title="Anantara Maldives" height="1500" width="2000" msid="82546116" hostid="261"></div>Currently the fifth-most-vaccinated nation, with 36% of its residents fully inoculated, the Maldives <a href="https://www.insider.com/travel-summer-destinations-reopening-summer-2020-6">reopened its borders to tourists back in July</a> without even mandating a negative COVID-19 test. The island nation started <a href="https://www.ttgasia.com/2020/09/07/maldives-imposes-covid-19-clearance-ahead-of-tourist-arrival/">requiring a negative test</a> a couple of months later but still didn't instate <a href="https://www.insider.com/singapore-quarantine-experience-tips-photos-food-hotel-2021-2">a 14-day quarantine period like many other countries</a>.Last month, the Maldives said it would <a href="https://www.insider.com/maldives-vaccine-for-tourists-plan-details-2021-4">start offering vaccinations to tourists</a> after it had inoculated its own population.<h2>New surges, but still welcoming tourists</h2>Despite the rise in cases, both countries are still welcoming international tourists.Seychelles saw its <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-10/world-s-most-vaccinated-nation-says-active-covid-cases-surge?sref=BLKWHazc">active cases more than double</a> in the first week of May, per Bloomberg. Nearly half of its <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/region/seychelles">8,172 total cases</a> have been recorded in the past month, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.The rise in cases in the world's most vaccinated nation has raised questions about the vaccination effort, with the <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-10/world-s-most-vaccinated-nation-says-active-covid-cases-surge?cmpid=BBD051021_MKT&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=newsletter&amp;utm_term=210510&amp;utm_campaign=marketsasia&amp;sref=BLKWHazcia&amp;sref=BLKWHazc">World Health Organization stepping in to evaluate</a> the situation, according to Bloomberg. Nearly 60% of the doses administered in Seychelles were Sinopharm vaccines, while the rest were Covishield, a licensed version of the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot, per Bloomberg.Last week, Seychelles announced it would be <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-04/world-s-most-vaccinated-nation-reintroduces-curbs-as-cases-surge?sref=BLKWHazc">closing schools, imposing a nightly curfew,</a> and banning gatherings between households through May 21. The country has also barred unvaccinated tourists from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh and all tourists from Brazil.The country has not, however, tightened restrictions for most international tourists. The tourism ministry said last week that <a href="https://www.mfa.gov.sc/news/2225/travel-to-seychelles-uninterrupted-despite-strict-health-measures">Seychelles was still safe to visit</a> despite the rise in cases and that only 10% of active cases were tourists.<div type="image" title="seychelles travel tourism beach" height="1541" width="2055" msid="82546118" hostid="261"></div>In the Maldives, <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/region/maldives">more than 30% of the 37,019 total known cases</a> have been recorded in the past month, per Johns Hopkins University. The South Asian island nation has <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2021-05-06/maldives-imposes-night-curfew-after-steep-jump-in-covid-19-infections">imposed a nighttime curfew</a> and closed its government offices May 5-15, instructing employees to work from home."The numbers are very high. If we are not able to significantly lower these numbers, we are going to face very difficult days," Mabrook Azeez, a representative for the Maldives' president, <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2021-05-06/maldives-imposes-night-curfew-after-steep-jump-in-covid-19-infections">told US News last week</a>.Over the weekend, the Maldives announced it was <a href="https://visitmaldives.com/en/covid19-updates#:~:text=Maldives%20will%20be%20reopening%20its,the%20Ministry%20of%20Tourism%20here.">barring tourists</a> from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, but it's still welcoming all other visitors.Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently advises Americans to <a href="https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/covid-4/coronavirus-seychelles">avoid traveling to Seychelles</a> or <a href="https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/covid-4/coronavirus-maldives">the Maldives</a> because of a "very high level" of COVID-19 in each destination.

Seychelles and the Maldives were hailed as early vaccination and pandemic tourism success stories. They just reported the highest global COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents.

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