Seychelles schools re-open as plague cases test negative

Two suspected cases of plague in the Seychelles have tested negative, the government said Wednesday, as children returned to schools which had closed as panic swept the island nation last week.

The said tests on two people with suspicious symptoms after visiting Madagascar, where 74 people have died from the over the past two months, had returned negative from a French laboratory.

Initial tests had shown the patients might have the plague, and 12 other people were admitted to hospital and 320 placed under surveillance.

In a statement, the ministry said all patients "can carry on with normal life as they do not have the plague."

However, new arrivals from Madagascar are still being placed in isolation, the health ministry said.

Air Seychelles suspended all flights to and from Madagascar in April to prevent the spread of plague which affects the poor Indian Ocean island almost every year.

The panic in the Seychelles led government to shut schools on Friday after several students developed fevers.

© 2017 AFP

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