Day: 19th May 2021

Highlights

1.         Labour force decreased by 20,900 (-18,100 males and -2,800 females) from 591,000 in 2019 to 570,100 in 2020. During the same period, the number of those outside labour force increased by 26,000 from 405,600 to 431,600.

2.         Mauritian employment decreased by 33,400 (-28,800 males and -4,600 females) from 551,300 in 2019 to 517,900 in 2020. 

3.         Unemployment increased by 12,500 (+10,700 males and +1,800 females) from 39,700 in 2019 to 52,200 in 2020 resulting in an unemployment rate of 9.2%. From 2019 to 2020, male unemployment rate increased from 4.4% to 7.8% and female unemployment rate rose from 10.2% to 11.1%.

4.         Unemployment rate in 2020 was highest in the lowest age group (16 to 24 years) with a rate of 26.1% (23.2% for male and 29.6% for female) and decreased progressively with increasing age.

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5.         Those outside the labour force (economically inactive) increased by 26,000 from 405,600 in 2019 to 431,600 in 2020. 

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The Minister of Health said that the English variant was detected in two patients who tested positive on their return to the country while nine others were infected with the South African variant. In addition, the majority of local patients whose samples have been sequenced are contaminated with a variant of interest.

On January 9 of this year, 20 samples of samples taken from passengers returning to Mauritius were sent to England for sequencing. Of these, three were carriers of the South African variant, 14 infected with a variant that “does not change the way the virus works” and three samples could not be analyzed.

Another batch of 20 samples was sent to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) in South Africa. These were 17 imported cases and 3 local cases. Three cases of the South African variant and one case of the English variant were detected.

The third batch, which consisted of 40 samples consisting of seven imported cases and 33 local cases, was sent to South Africa on March 13. It was in this batch that the B 1.1.318 variant, classified as variant of interest, was detected in local patients. This variant is present in 32 countries. This batch also revealed a case of a South African variant and a case of an English variant in quarantined passengers.