Mauritian Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth, announced on Tuesday night that the government will re-open additional economic activities under lockdown from 31 March.

Speaking on national television, the Prime Minister said that the government had implemented several measures to contain the virus in the island under lockdown since 10 March.

“The health of the population remains the priority of Government,” he underlined, calling on the population to continue to abide by strict sanitary precautions such as maintaining social distance, washing of hands with soap, wearing of masks and staying at home.

Mr Jugnauth said that the government was ensuring that all vaccines used in Mauritius were effective. According to him, herd immunity would be achieved when around 60% of the population had been inoculated.

The Prime Minister expressed his gratitude to India and China for providing vaccines to Mauritius.

Talking to journalists earlier, the spokesperson of the National Covid Vaccination Committee, Dr Zouberr Joomaye, said the Russian Government was willing to supply to Mauritius some 1.25 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine, which has been found to be 91% efficient. He added that a first consignment of 250,000 doses could reach Mauritius in about two to three weeks.

Dr Joomaye indicated that 116,027 people have received their first dose of either AstraZeneca or COVAXIN vaccine since 28 January.

“The Government’s objective aims at 750,000 persons being vaccinated in order to reach herd immunity at the earliest,” he added.