COVID-19 weekly briefing: CTA reports 46 positive cases, 2 deaths

DHARAMSALA, 12 Nov: The COVID- 19 Task Force of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) reported 46 positive cases among exiled Tibetans in India and Nepal over the past seven days, 13 more than last week tally.

“A total of  46 COVID-19 positive cases and 2 deaths were reported among exile Tibetans in the last seven days after testing 1,011 from 16 Tibetan settlements in India and 2 Tibetan settlements in Nepal,” Dr Tsering Tsamchoe said during the committee’s weekly briefing.

The tally now stands at 6,815 COVID-19 positive cases to date, 6,607 recoveries, 157 deaths and 51 active cases.

The cases, the committee said were scattered across Tibetan settlements in Bylakuppee, Dharamsala jurisdiction, Kollegal, Ladakh, Mundgod, Odisha, Tezu and a lone case from Nepal. 

Dr Tsamchoe further informed that a total of 266 exiled Tibetans from 11 Tibetan settlements in India and 1 from Nepal were under quarantine this week. While 65 of them are under home quarantine, another 201 are under institutional quarantine.

With schools opening up, she urged the public for continued caution.

Dr Tenzin Tsundue from Delek Hospital appraised the public about the surge in Dengue cases in India amid the COVID pandemic and suggested some precaution measures such as using mosquito repellents, fumigating and cleaning mosquito breeding sites among others.

He urged the teachers to include the awareness and preventative measures on Dengue and COVID-19 in the school curriculum besides adopting and strictly following it.

The vaccination rate of Tibetans in Nepal remains same as last week at 86.3 per cent. 

A total of 45,313 Tibetans in India have received both doses while 5,064 Tibetans have received the first dose. 

Since its outbreak in Wuhan in late 2019, the pandemic has infected 251,944,528 people and killed 5,080,019 people globally according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

India continues to sit as the 7th worst-hit country by the pandemic in the world with 34,414,186 cases to date and 462,690 deaths.