Yearly Archives: 0

Heightening the safety precautions, Samdrup Jongkhar town is up for strict implementation of COVID-19 preventive measures. More than 200 shopkeepers signed an undertaking with the Dzongkhag COVID-19 Task Force, yesterday. 

With the relaxation of the lockdown in Samtse yesterday, the seven-day mandatory quarantine for all out-bound travellers from the district was reinstated. Although the dzongkhag was declared a green zone without any COVID-19 positive cases, it is still considered a high-risk area because of its proximity to the border. 

It has been just a few days since the Health Ministry started mobile flu clinics in Thimphu to enhance the coverage and improve accessibility, and already 1,059 people have been tested. According to the ministry, not having to call 1010 for an e-permit has encouraged more people to avail themselves of the service. 

Gelegphu is in its peak season of orange export, but with a limited number of people working in the depots, the shortage of labourers has become a cause of concern for the exporters. The youth facilitated by the regional labour office in Gelegphu are leaving the work one after another. 

The closure of borders and restriction on imports has not only boosted local produce but has also triggered innovations among the people in the country. In Dagana, in absence of plastic cups, chilli growers of Samarchhu under Tsenda-Gang Gewog have found an alternative to raise chilli saplings– Bamboo cups. 

People stranded in Thimphu and Paro will be able to travel back to their homes starting tomorrow. Since the lockdown was enforced, only people with emergency cases were allowed to travel.

To facilitate easy market access for perishable farm produce during the lockdown, the Dorokha Dungkhag in Samtse helped reach 350 cartoons of eggs and other dairy products to Phuentshogling and Haa in the past two days.

Starting tomorrow, the first phase of the lockdown relaxation will allow the movement of people and utility vehicles in zones of all the districts, except for Thimphu and Paro, that have not reported any cases of COVID-19 so far. However, it will be only within the district. 

The Gelegphu police fished out bodies of a couple from a reservoir tank of a car wash in one of the automobile workshops in the Industrial Service Center at Tashiling Demkhong under Gelegphu Thromde, recently. The incident reportedly happened on the night of 31st December.

As Bhutan keeps in constant touch with vaccine manufacturing countries around the world, her hope for Oxford’s AstraZeneca vaccine is quite high and assuring. Prime Minister Dr Lotay Tshering said Bhutan has discussed in length, regarding the vaccine and readied all documents with the Serum Institute in India.