States step up search as most of new cases had attended Tablighi event; all 6 who died of Covid in Telangana on Wednesday too had taken part in jamaat
A massive exercise is underway to identify and track hundreds of people who attended a Tablighi Jamaat conference in Nizamuddin, Delhi, this month and may have spread the coronavirus infection far and wide.
The Governments in various States have issued orders to trace all possible contacts these delegates may have made after their return from the Nizamuddin event and thus extending the chain of infections in the country.
As the States have established teams to locate the new chain of Tablighi contacts, 45 members of this religious organisation have been traced to Karnataka.
One of the 45 attendees from Karnataka who visited Nizamuddin Markaz mosque in early March died of COVID-19, according to the State Health Minister B Sriramulu.
“A religious ceremony was held at the Nizamuddin mosque in New Delhi on March 10, which was attended by 45 people from Karnataka. One of them was a man who died in Sira (Tumakuru),” tweeted Sriramulu.
“The pilgrim from Sira was a sexagenarian who passed away on Friday, he was Karnataka’s third COVID-19 death,” said the State Minister.
“We’ve quarantined 54 people, eight in Bidar. One person was found positive in Bidar and we’ve quarantined him. There are people who attended Jamaat from almost all districts,” said Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai.
Also, Governments in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are finding imprints of Nizamuddin event in their States with numbers of suspects turning much larger than in Karnataka.
The Andhra Pradesh Government has managed to locate 369 people from the State. With most of the COVID-19 persons in Andhra Pradesh turning out to be the participants or a contact of a participant of the congregation held between March 15 and 17, the Government has intensified efforts to quarantine them.
According to a statement issued by the State Government, people who tested positive in Andhra Pradesh, two are from Anantapur district, 8 from Prakasam, 5 from Guntur and 1 from Krishna with 369 persons being suspects and all of them are said to have attended the Nizamuddin meet.
“17 COVID-19 positive cases have been detected since 9 pm Monday, taking the total positive cases in the State to 40. Most of these people are those who had attended religious meeting in Delhi or are the contacts of those who attended,” said Director of Andhra Health & Family Welfare.
Telengana reported six deaths of COVID-19 on Wednesday. All of them had attended the religious congregation in Nizamuddin.
The Government is looking for their subsequent community contacts.
Andhra, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu Governments have asked their police and health administrations to make all out efforts to trace out all those who had attended the Jamaat meeting in Delhi and appealed to people to report themselves to authorities for quarantine.
Cutting short his visit to the districts with maximum number of COVID-19 patients, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday returned to the State capital to hold an urgent meeting with senior officials, in view of reports that several people from the State attended the religious event in Nizamuddin area which has emerged as one of the biggest hotspots of the disease.
He was scheduled to visit Meerut and Agra besides Ghaziabad to review the situation. The CM will hold meeting with senior officials later in the day, the spokesman said. The State Police has already screened a large number of people in the State suspected to have come in contact with those who attended the Jamaat in Delhi in mid-March.
Jammu & Kashmir where “many of these people returned” is already on alert. The district administration in all ten districts has fanned out teams to trace those who might not have disclosed their travel history or contact history with the Tablighis.
It is understood that the list of those who attended the Jamaat event in Nizamuddin from J & K is in good number but many of them are not in quarantine yet and the administration and police are making efforts to identity, trace and isolate, authorities said.
Sources said the Government has prepared a 50 page list of people from J&K who attended the congregation or came in contact with those. Efforts are being made to identify these people and isolate them.
District Magistrates in different districts of Kashmir have issued a warning on Tuesday evening to those who have entered the Valley after March 1 and have not so far revealed their travel history to the authorities.
The order issued by district magistrates said all those who entered the Valley after March 1 with travel history abroad, outside the Valley or association with members of the Tablighi groups are given the last chance to report to the authorities within two days failing which they could face imprisonment under the provisions of the disaster management act, 2005.
