COVID-19 weekly briefing: CTA reports 36 positive cases, 1 death
DHARAMSALA, 22 Oct: The COVID- 19 Task Force of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) reported 36 positive cases among exiled Tibetans in India over the past seven days.
“The 36 COVID-19 positive cases were reported in the last seven days after testing 623 Tibetans from 14 Tibetan settlements in India and 1 from Tibetan settlements in Nepal,” Dr Tsering Tsamchoe said during the committee’s weekly briefing.
The committee also reported one death due to the COVID -19 the COVID-19 in the past week.
The tally now stands at 6,704 COVID-19 positive cases to date out of which 6,494 have recovered with 57 active cases and 153 deaths.
The committee declared that Dharamsala jurisdiction along with Bylakuppee and Mundgod Tibetan settlement still continues to remain the hot spot of the COVID-19 cases among the exiled Tibetan community.
Dr Tsamchoe further informed that a total of 249 exiled Tibetans from 11 Tibetan settlements in India and 1 from Nepal were under quarantine this week. While 98 of them are under home quarantine, another 151 are under institutional quarantine.
With the winter fast approaching and India opening up for International tourists, she warned against catching the flu and further advised continued caution and maintaining a healthy and balanced diet.
The vaccination rate of Tibetans in Nepal remains the same as last week. A total of 6,697 Tibetans are fully vaccinated and another 51 have received their first jab. The vaccination rate of Tibetans in Nepal stands at 82.60 per cent.
With the festival seasons around the corner, Delek hospital’s Dr Namdol from the committee urged the Tibetans to not let their guards down and to continue to exercise caution by following the standard guidelines by wearing masks, keeping social distancing, and washing hands regularly.
She credited the drop in cases across the world to the mass vaccination of people and urged the Tibetans who are eligible and have not been vaccinated to get inoculated. She further advised against attending and organising mass gatherings.
The committee announced the vaccination rate of the exiled Tibetans in India at 94.39 per cent. A total of 41,081 Tibetans in India have received both doses while 10,397 Tibetans are partially vaccinated.
Since its outbreak in Wuhan in late 2019, the pandemic has infected 242,551,326 people and killed 4,930,618 people globally according to data from Johns Hopkins University. India has now become the 5th country worst hit by the pandemic in the world with 34,143,236 cases to date and 453,042 deaths.
