Dharamshala: As India records an alarming surge in Covid cases in the last few days with a crossover of 2 lakhs cases yesterday alone, Deputy Secretary Nyima Gyaltsen, Health Department appealed to people to adopt strict precautionary and Covid appropriate measures while also urging those eligible to definitely get vaccinated.
“Until we do not see a significant drop in the cases, absolutely do not lower your guard. Cooperate and participate in the fight against the pandemic”, urged Deputy Secretary Gyaltsen.
As schools are reopened and classes are resumed, the schools’ administrations are advised to adopt SOP guidelines based on the directives issued by the Ministry of Health, India. Likewise, the school authorities are urged to strictly implement quarantine to students who have tested positive and those who are potential contacts.
Reporting on the pandemic status of the exile Tibetan community, Dr Tsamchoe said 80 new cases are recorded this week as per the data of the CTA’s COVID-19 task force. Dr Tsering Tsamchoe reported that among the new cases, the oldest is 84 years and the youngest is a 1-year-old infant. No case of death reported this week.
This brings the total number of cases in the Tibetan community across and India and Nepal to 1837 out of which, 1648 recovered, 141 active cases, and 48 deaths.
Updating the status of the vaccination drive in the Tibetan community, Dr Tsamchoe reported 1215 frontliners, 8356 people above 60 with comorbid and 3452 above 45 years bringing the total vaccinated number in the Tibetan community to 13,707.
As for the weekly quarantine status, 232 Tibetans are currently quarantined out of which, 151 are home quarantined and 81 at the institutional quarantine. The distribution of SORIG immune boosters till now stands at 28,770. The mental health committee provided tele-counseling services to 7 covid patients. The mass testing drive covered 753 Tibetans in India and Nepal.
Alarming the daily spike in the cases, Dr Tsamchoe prohibited throwing caution to the wind and breaking the Covid protocols.
Dr Tsundue spoke on the gravity of the pandemic situation in India stating India as the second-worst hit country in the world surpassing Brazil.
Warning against the emergence of new variants, he reported that a different form of symptoms accompanies the new strains which include red eye, rashes, discomfort in the throat, and skin discolouration around lips, fingertips etc.
The new variants emergence in India is causing a severe situation especially in the hospitals as many hospitals in India runs out of ventilators and hospital beds.
In view of severity, Dr Tsundue convinced people to absolutely get vaccinated if eligible stating the low risk of contracting the virus.
In the case of those opting for the second dose, he said the individual must register the same phone number with which they registered for the initial vaccine to avoid dubiety. Secondly, individuals are strictly advised to follow up on only one brand of vaccine that was initially used.
In conclusion, Dr Tsundue demonstrated the ways to register on the coWIN portal. Once registered, the portal offer options on vaccine registration, selection of vaccine centre of convenience, booking of the slot to get the vaccine, and also reschedule option for the vaccination date.