Dharamshala: The Central Taskforce members comprising of sMenpa Tsering Tsamchoe, Deputy Secretary Tenzin Kunsang, and Dr Tenzin Namdon addressed the 90th Covid-19 taskforce briefing on Thursday, 16 December.
Deputy Secretary Kunsang briefed about the series of meetings held with schools, settlement officers, heads of various Tibetan hospitals and clinics highlighting two key issues in regard to vaccination of children and the safety measures for Tibetans engaged in winter business.
As for the vaccination for children, she informed that the Health Department will shortly begin collecting list of all eligible children from schools and settlements as preparedness measure incase the central government of India announces vaccines for children. The same list will also be taken into account by the department for any health programs for children in the future.
Tibetans returning from winter business are obligated to get a complete a covid test before entering the settlements. Similarly, those requiring to quarantine are urged to strictly adhere to the quarantine protocols in addition to abidance of other necessary measures.
sMenpa Tsamchoe updated the Covid status of the last seven days. As per the data of the committee, weekly mass testing covered 188 Tibetans in India. Of the tested individuals, 11 of them were tested positive for covid and among them the oldest patient was 85 year old and the youngest was 20.
Up until now, 6,969 Tibetans in India and Nepal are reportedly infected by the Covid19; however, 6,792 have recovered while 162 have died, said sMenpa Tsamchoe. 15 Tibetans are still active, she added.
As for the record of quarantine, 100 Tibetans in India are currently home quarantined while 9 are at the institutional center.
Over the last two years of battling with the various covid variants, the Health Department in collaboration with Men-Tsee-Khang have distributed over 57,052 units of free Sorig immune booster to Tibetans around the world.
Updating the vaccination record of the Tibetan community, sMenpa Tsamchoe reported 46482 Tibetans in India as completely vaccinated while 3725 Tibetans are said to be partially vaccinated i.e they have received only the first dose.
In Nepal, completely vaccinated number of Tibetans stand at 6980 while 48 are partially vaccinated.
Dr Namdol of Delek Hospital explained some key features of the new Omicron variant currently spread across 77 countries.
Though advancing at an incredible rate than other variants, she explained that omircron variant has so far recorded mild symptoms and those infected with this new variant are reportedly not severe according to experts. However, attention and precautions are strictly advised against the new variant.
Before the emergence of Omicron, the covid situation in India was relatively under control which has now shifted a little with cases of the variant being detected every now and then. So far, 78 individuals in India are infected with Omicron and the tally is likely to increase as per experts predictions. Dr Namdol mandated that vaccination is the only safest way to build protection against the new variant.
Source : Tibet.net