facebook-pixel

Navajo Nation reports 10 additional deaths from COVID-19

FILE - In this on April 20, 2020, file photo, Dr. Diana Hu, left, and a colleague wear personal protective equipment (PPE) as they work in the COVID-19 screening and testing tent in the parking lot at Tuba City Regional Health Care on the Navajo Reservation in Tuba City, Ariz. Indian tribes across the country are wrestling with competing needs, restrictive laws and inadequate staffing as they try to meet a tight federal deadline on spending billions of dollars in virus relief funds. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

Window Rock, Ariz. • Navajo Nation officials reported 10 additional deaths from COVID-19 as the tribe’s sprawling reservation remained under the latest weekend lockdown imposed to combat the coronavirus outbreak.

Tribal officials reported 56 additional confirmed COVID-19 cases that increased the total to nearly 8,100. The death toll rose to 396 as of Friday.

The number of infections is thought to be far higher because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected with the virus without feeling sick.

The reservation includes parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.

The lockdown began Friday night and ends at 5 a.m. Monday. All businesses on the Navajo Nation are also required to close during the lockdown.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death. The vast majority of people recover.