There has been a case of at least 17 Tibetan households having been tested positive to COVID-19 in Belgium recently. The report by Tibet Times say that in the past two weeks, at least 17 Tibetan households have COVID-19 cases among the Tibetan community in Belgium. Tibetan new year or Losar was observed two weeks ago across the world, leading to restricted gatherings and public events.
The Tibetan report by the news agency explains that despite no exact figures of number of people, there has been cases of Coronavirus in 17 Tibetan households. According to the president of Belgium Tibetan Association, There has been a relatively big surge in Coronavirus cases among the local Tibetan community. Despite strictly following COVID-19 guidelines by the Tibetan community in Belgium since April last year, during the celebration of Tibetan new year recently, people gathered for ceremonial rituals and entertainment.
Sudden surge of cases among the Tibetan community has been attributed to those events. However, the surge is very small in terms of size but taking note of the surge is a good reminder that the fight against the pandemic is still on. According the Tibetan community leader, there hasn’t been any critical cases among the Tibetans apart from a slight seriousness with one of them.
There are around 4000 estimated Tibetan diaspora in Belgium, which is one of the largest clusters of Tibetans in Europe. Tracking the total number of cases among the Tibetan diaspora has not been very easy. But there has been at least 2000 positive cases of COVID-19 among Tibetans residing in India, Nepal and Bhutan. One of the most recent cluster was discovered at the Gyuto Monastery in Dharamahala, the seat of Tibetan government in Exile.