Coronavirus hits India’s remote Great Andamanese tribe, of whom only 53 people remain

India has recorded a record 75,760 new Covid-19 cases, taking its total past 3.3 million, with 10 of the 53 members of its Great Andamanese tribe infected

There are concerns about the safety of remote indigenous tribes. In 2018, an American missionary was killed when he visited North Sentinel island

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The Andaman Islands, a remote Indian archipelago in the Bay of Bengal. Ten members of India’s dwindling Great Andamanese tribe have tested positive for the coronavirus. Photo: AFP

Published: 10:24pm, 27 Aug 2020Updated: 12:15am, 28 Aug 2020

Ten members of India’s dwindling Great Andamanese tribe have tested positive for coronavirus, officials said on Thursday, fuelling concerns about the safety of the group and other indigenous people in the remote archipelago.

Six of the 10 have recovered and are in home quarantine while the rest are undergoing treatment at a local hospital.

Just over 50 Great Andamanese people survive today and live on the tiny Strait Island where the Indian government looks after their food and shelter.

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a chain in the Indian Ocean with a population of some 400,000, have reported 2,268 coronavirus cases so far with 37 deaths.

Fishermen and women return to their homes in Port Blair, in India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands archipelago. Photo: AP

Indian authorities sent a team of health officials to Strait Island on Sunday after six members of the tribe tested positive in the archipelago’s capital Port Blair recently. Some of the tribe’s members travel to Port Blair where they have government jobs.