Coronavirus reaches world's highest post office in Himachal Pradesh

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Image: Ankit Pal
Image: Ankit Pal

Hikkim : Coronavirus reached world's highest post office in Hikkim (Himachal Pradesh), said officials on Tuesday. Months after coronavirus pandemic begun, a team of doctors reached Hikkim to collect sample of people living in the village with a population of 200 people.

Hikkim is located at a height of 15,000 feet above sea level and its night temperature currently hovers around 20 degrees Celsius below freezing. The nearby villages Komik and Langche have also been hit by the pandemic. They support a population of 87 and 136, respectively.

"A total of 80 swab samples were collected in three villages and out of them four tested positive," a health official said over phone from Kaza, the headquarters of Spiti and some 320 km from the state capital Shimla.

Kaza is among the first places in India to completely sanitize the entire area to prevent the spread of the pandemic. As per the state health bulletin, a total of 4,646 coronavirus samples were taken in the valley till date and out of them 473 tested positive. The active cases are 25. Two deaths have been reported.

Currently, Spiti Valley is experiencing the freezing temperatures and continuous snowfall, forcing people to stay indoors most of the time.