Dharamshala: Addressing the debate over the possibility of the third wave, Secretary Palden Dhondup, Chair of Task Force Committee said that the advent of third-wave is certain and it is only a matter of time when that arrives.
“We are recovering from the impacts of the second wave. The least number of cases were recorded during the celebration of His Holiness’s birthday, however, the cases spiralled just within a span of a week and two,” he said during the 69th task force briefing on Thursday.
Additionally, Secretary Palden directed the heads of various Tibetan settlements to submit their requisites needed to combat the third wave in the respective settlements and, meanwhile, informed that the committee had begun distributing SORIG immune boosters to schools for children below 18 years.
He then extended appreciation and gratitude to all the donors for their contributions so far and said that CTA wouldn’t have been able to tackle it single-handedly without any of their support.
Updating the weekly Covid-status of the Tibetan community, Dr Tsering Tsamchoe reported that the mass testing drive this week covered 792 Tibetans in India and Nepal. Of those tested individuals, Dr Tsamchoe reported 182 fresh cases and 3 deaths. With this, the total number of reported cases of the exile Tibetan community is 5538, 5022 recoveries, 135 deaths, and 381 active cases out of which 40 are recorded from Nepal and 341 from India.
38,736 units of Sorig immune boosters have been distributed till now out of which 1030 recipients are children below 18 years.
As for the status of the inoculation drive in the Tibetan community, around 28378 Tibetans have received the first dose which is 52.3% of the total population. While 20,239 Tibetans have already been jabbed with both doses bringing the vaccination tally of Tibetans in India to 89% of the total population. Similarly in Nepal, around 9.44% of Tibetans have received the first dose of the vaccination while 12.94% received both doses.
Raising concern over the slight increase in India’s count of active cases, Dr Tsundue advised continued adherence to covid protocols. He also warned against careless behaviour of people especially the ones who are vaccinated that are causing the spike in covid cases.
Addressing the inoculation drive in Nepal, Dr Tsundue advised the Tibetans in Nepal to opt for the Johnson & Johnson shot given its high rate of efficacy. Meanwhile, he dismissed the myths and rumours surrounding the said vaccine and urged maximum participation in the ongoing vaccine campaign.