Photo: Tibetan Review
The Tibetan capital city Lhasa, along with neighbouring regions including Shigatse, Ngari, Lhoka and Chamdo in the Chinese segregated Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) are facing strict lockdown protocols with the authorities citing a new outbreak of Covid-19. People must stay at home unless there is an emergency and outside the lockdown areas there are restrictions put on cross-city travelling and the Potala Palace – the Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s winter palace in Lhasa which is the main pilgrimage site for Tibetans – is shut down.
The Lhasa Buddhist Association has announced the closure of all Tibetan Buddhist venues and monasteries in the city and a suspension of all religious activities. The announcement did not specify when religious activities can be resumed.
According to the South China Morning Post, the least Chinese-censored Chinese news media, the Tibet region is facing a new Covid-19 outbreak for the first time since January 2020; this new outbreak is the new variant Omicron which spreads rapidly and is likely to be transmitted through family gatherings. Local sources are reported as speculating that the virus has arrived in Tibet via Chinese tourists who are encouraged to come to the region – which is still closed to foreign tourists, journalists and officials.
Tibetans in Lhasa queuing for the mandatory COVID testing
Photo : ICT
Temporary hospitals have been set up to accommodate Covid positive people – hospitals with capacity beyond the reported number of cases leading to speculation that the actual number of cases is much higher than the reported figures. Chinese state media the China Global Television Network has reported 99 confirmed cases of Covid-19, with 848 asymptomatic patients as of August 16.
Local residents are subject to mandatory daily testing; without proof of Covid negative status their Covid pass – which is required to carry out daily life activities – will be invalidated. The International Campaign for Tibet, a non-profit advocacy group working to promote democractic freedoms for Tibetans, has reported people posting in social media, sharing photographs of the long queues and expressing their frustration over the inadequate venues and facilities for testing.
Five officials in Shigatse were removed from office on August 12 for not following pandemic prevention measures, reports the Chinese state media globaltimes.cn and there are reports of three more health officials from Lhasa being removed from their posts for failing to adhere to pandemic control rules.
There are outbreaks of Covid-19 throughout China, with lockdowns imposed for weeks at a time in some regions.
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