(Seychelles News Agency) - The year 2020 brought about challenges globally and in Seychelles as the COVID-19 spread and dominated news at both international and local levels.

As the news begins its charge into 2021, SNA looks back at its five most-read articles of 2020.

The entire SNA team thanks all of our readers in our great island nation as well as news hounds from around the globe. We hope you will keep following news and sunny feature stories from Seychelles!

5. Seychelles and COVID-19: New major measures: travel banned for 30 days, schools and daycares closed, salaries assured

As the COVID-19 began its global spread, the Seychelles President Danny Faure at the time announced major efforts by the government to stop the spread in the island nation. The measures were aimed at re-orienting government priorities and spending toward mitigating the health and economic effects of a disease careening across the globe.

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Readers: 20,630

(Air Seychelles) Photo License: CC-BY

4. Seychelles closes cruise ship season amidst fears of COVID–19

The global pandemic prompted the Seychelles tourism minister to temporarily close down the island nation to cruise ships. It was a decision taken to protect the population from the threat of the COVID-19 virus but one that also carried economic reverberations.

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Readers: 20,834

(Patrick Joubert) Photo License: CC-BY

3. COVID-19 and Seychelles: Fewer Italian tourists, and an uncertain future, top official says

While the outbreak and spread of the coronavirus disease COVID-19 pushed local authorities to assess the economic impact especially tourism, SNA met with Sherin Francis, the chief executive of the Seychelles Tourism Board, to find out how this was impacting the Seychelles' tourism industry.

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Readers: 22,630

(Gerard Larose) Photo License: CC-BY

2. Seychelles' health authority defends COVID treatment after criticism from Dutch patients

Health authorities in Seychelles refuted allegations made by a Dutch couple about poor hygiene conditions and the wrong use of medications in treatment after they tested positive for COVID-19.  The Dutch couple in their 50s, Robert and Thea van der Laarse, criticised the health authorities for the treatment and care provided to them in an article published in the Dutch-based newspaper De Telegraaf.

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Readers: 26,448

(Rassin Vannier, Seychelles News Agency) Photo License: CC-BY

1. Agreement for Africa's first utility-scale floating solar farm, located in Seychelles, to be signed this quarter

The Seychelles Energy Commission announced that key agreements for the construction of Africa's first utility-scale floating solar photovoltaic (PV) system in Seychelles were to be signed at the end of the first quarter of 2020. The Commission had issued a notice of intended award to Quadran Seychelles Ltd, the locally set up branch of Quadran -- an international renewable energy company operating in Africa, Europe, and Asia.

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Total Readers: 104,033  

(Roland de Rosnay, Quadran International --provisional picture) Photo License: All Rights Reserved