Call to protect Andaman tribes after 5 Great Andamanese turn Covid-19 positive

The protected tribes are considered more vulnerable to pandemics such as Covid 19.

A London-based campaign group that helped expose ‘human safaris’ in the Andaman Islands in 2012, has on Thursday, called for urgent action following reports that at least five members of the Great Andamanese tribe have tested positive for Covid-19, besides others.

The Great Andamanese aboriginal tribe of Andaman Islands is nearly extinct.(AFP Photo/File/Representative)

Survival International said concern was growing for the safety of other tribes on the islands, including the Jarawa and the uncontacted Sentinelese. Earlier this month, it was reported that five welfare staff working with the Jarawa tribe had tested positive for Covid-19.

The group added that poachers were allegedly continuing to enter the territory, risking bringing in the virus, while last week eight fishermen were reportedly arrested for illegally entering the Jarawa’s territory.

Sophie Grig, senior researcher with the group, said: “It is extremely alarming that members of the Great Andamanese tribe tested positive for Covid-19. They will be all too aware of the devastating impact of epidemics that have decimated their people”.

“The Andaman authorities must act urgently to prevent the virus from reaching more Great Andamanese and to prevent infection in the other tribes. The waters around North Sentinel must be properly policed and no outsiders should enter the territories of any of the Andaman tribes without their consent,” she added.

The group said in a release that the Great Andamanese are a small group of just over 50 survivors, down from more than 5000 when the British colonised the islands in the 1850s. They suffer from the long term impacts of diseases introduced by the brutal occupation. Tuberculosis and alcoholism are widespread, making them particularly vulnerable to Covid-19, it added.

“The Jarawa are a nomadic hunter-gatherer tribe, who have only had friendly contact with settlers neighbouring their territory since 1998. Due to their isolation, relatively recent contact and the impact of two measles epidemics, they are also likely to be especially at risk from the virus”, the group said.

It further added that the uncontacted Sentinelese-- the most isolated tribe in the world-- are extremely vulnerable to diseases from outsiders and the risk of them contacting the devastating infection is even greater during the global pandemic.

“Without proper patrolling of the waters around their island, they are at risk of coming into contact with poachers illegally fishing and diving for lobster,” said the group expressing their apprehensions about possible career of the disease to the protected tribe.