(Seychelles News Agency) - Seychelles remains one of the safest destinations, says a top government official on Saturday.

The statement by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Tourism, Sylvestre Radegonde follows statements in the international news that the island nation has recorded cases of the new variant, omicron.

According to the Seychelles’ Minister for Health, Mrs Peggy Vidot, to date no cases of the new South African variant has been reported in the island nation.

Seychelles is a tourism archipelago located over a thousand kilometres away from mainland Africa.

On Saturday, the country has restricted movements from seven countries in the southern part of Africa, namely, South Africa, Botswana, Eswantini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe, where most of the cases have been reported.

Radegonde has reassured visitors planning their holidays to Seychelles in December, that the destination remains very safe.

“The country has a modern and robust health system with strict measures to control any possible spread of the virus”, says the tourism minister, Radegonde.

These include mandatory PCR tests before travelling in and out of the country as well as maintaining strict sanitary measures while in Seychelles.

“When we look at the statistics of the number of infected cases, we have recorded only a dozen tourists who have tested positive since March this year, when the island nation reopened its borders to tourism” adds minister Radegonde.

Meanwhile, the national airline, Air Seychelles, has cancelled all flights from Johannesburg to the island nation except those of 1 December 1, 17 and 19. Passengers already in Seychelles who are booked to travel to Johannesburg should contact their airline concerning their departure flights.

In January, Seychelles was the first country to lead in a national vaccination campaign with over 80 percent of the population vaccinated by October of this year.

During the first week of November, Seychelles recorded its lowest infection rates with a seven-day rolling average of 20 cases or less per day.

This comes as a result of a sustained vaccination campaign, supported by a third dose booster campaign administered to 18,000 persons to date.

The island nation also offered the Pfizer vaccine to adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 years and in this exercise has recorded a 60 percent uptake in this age group.