Nizamuddin coronavirus shocker: Police, states take preventive measures

Delhi Police on Tuesday wrote a letter to Delhi Government seeking an immediate action with regard to the persons including 157 foreign nationals associated with Tablighi Jamaat meet in Nizamuddin and presently staying at various mosques and other places in Delhi.

Meanwhile, after 24 people who attended the Markaz event in Nizamuddin were tested positive for coronavirus, Delhi Police Commissioner SN Shrivastava, on Tuesday said that an FIR has been registered against Tablighi Jamaat head Maulana Saad and others under the Epidemic Disease Act 1897.

Earlier, 24 people who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat event were tested positive for coronavirus. Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain had said that the officials are not certain of the number of people who participated in the event but it is being estimated that 1,500-1,700 people had assembled at the Markaz building.

The religious gathering was held at the Markaz building in Nizamuddin between March 13-15.

17 from Himachal attended Tablighi Jamaat, says CM

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said 17 people belonging to the state attended a religious congregation of Tablighi Jamaat in Delhi's Nizamuddin area and they were under 14 days of surveillance in Delhi. So far they have no symptoms of Covid-19, he said.

Official sources told IANS that a majority of those attended the religious congregation belonged to Chamba district, located adjoining Jammu and Kashmir. Thakur said an Active Case Finding Campaign was launched across the state on Wednesday under which health workers would provide information regarding symptoms of coronavirus to the people at their doorsteps.

Under this campaign, every ASHA (honorary volunteer) worker along with two people will do house-to-house survey of every individual and share the health information with the department through Google form. He said this campaign would be conducted daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. After the campaign, the suspected people would be investigated accordingly.

The Chief Minister said 3,396 people have been kept under surveillance for coronavirus in the state, out of which 1,168 have completed 28 days of surveillance. He said investigations of 17 people were carried out on Tuesday and all samples had been found negative.

UP govt tracks, quarantines majority of Tablighi attendees

The Yogi Adityanath government has identified and quarantined nearly 95 per cent persons who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat meet in Delhi in March.

"We have also been conducting raids in various districts where some of the foreign nationals have been hiding after the lockdown. We are examining their travel documents and those who have violated rules, are being booked under relevant sections," said a senior police official on Tuesday.

In Mathura, the local administration has quarantined 51 persons, including 30 who took part in the Tablighi Jamaat. Health officials said that the 30 quarantined people hail from Shamli and Yamuna Nagar and had moved to the mosques in Mathura and Farah on March 19.

Mathura District Magistrate Sarvagya Ram Misra, said their samples have been taken and sent to Aligarh's Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College for tests. All of them have been put up in quarantine centre for 14 days, he said. Besides, 21 others, including 14 from Agra and 7 from Shamli, have also been home quarantined for 14 days even though they had not attended Delhi's congregation but were in contact with the others.

Meanwhile, the Agra administration also quarantined 89 people, including 24 who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi's Nizamuddin. Others were from outside the state and were staying in mosques. All of them were shifted to an institutional quarantine facility developed at a resort in Sikandra by Tuesday night.

Agra Chief Medical Officer Mukesh Vats said, "On the orders of the district administration, the health department teams, along with police, has identified 89 people staying in different mosques of the city. These people had recently come from outside Uttar Pradesh. Some of them attended the religious congregation in Delhi.

"All these people have been shifted to a quarantine facility. The number of such people can further increase. Doctors have started screening them. We will keep them in a 14-day quarantine. Samples of all those having symptoms of COVID-19 will be sent for tests."

7 from Meghalaya attended religious congregation at Delhi's Nizamuddin
 

Seven persons from Meghalaya attended the religious congregation at Tablighi Jamaat's Markaz in Delhi's Nizamuddin West, the Shillong Markaz informed the state police on Tuesday. They attended the congregation before the nationwide lockdown was imposed in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, the Shillong Markaz said.

In the wake of the prevailing situation, it is our responsibility to co-operate with the administration, Ali, a member of the Shillong Markaz, said.

The persons who attended the religious congregation have not returned to Meghalaya, said G Iangrai, the assistant inspector general of police (A). Five of them are currently in Delhi and two are in Lucknow, he said.

The Meghalaya Police are in touch with them, the officer said, adding that their details have also been shared with the police forces of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. Megalaya has, so far, not witnessed any case of COVID-19.

Six people from Telangana and one from Jammu and Kashmir, who attended religious congregation, died due to coronavirus. Besides, over twenty people have tested positive.