As many as 16 persons in Assam – all participants at the Tablighi Jamaat congregation at Markaz Nizamuddin in Delhi in March – have tested positive for novel coronavirus (COVID-19) till April 2nd, 2020.
The new three cases have been detected in Goalpara district of Assam. The State Health Department launched a massive drive to trace 347 persons who attended the religious convention of Tablighi Jamaat from March 1st-15th, 2020, in the Nizamuddin West area in Delhi.
Another person has been admitted to the Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Hospital in Guwahati. Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma visited the hospital on April 1st, 2020 to check the health status of the patient.
Sarma said the patient’s symptoms are “indicative, yet he is not confirmed for COVID-19 yet”.
Sarma said while the Centre sent a list of 456 people from the State who were present in and around Nizamuddin area during the period. The Assam government got another list of 91 who were there in the Markaz, taking the total number to 547.
After a preliminary investigation, it came to the fore that 134 people were passing through the area during the period as the list was based on mobile tower location. “Hence they are out of suspicion and 68 have not returned o Assam yet,” Sarma said.
A total of 347 persons have returned to the State out of which 230 have been traced and quarantined. “The mobile phone of others are switched off and their families are also not cooperating. Nonetheless, the government will get them,” the Minister added.
The Assam government has kick-started a contact-tracing drive on war footing to trace all those people who might have come into contact with the suspected cases and Nizamuddin returnees.
The Assam Health Department has collected the samples of 196 people out of 230 and have sent them to the laboratories. Among the 68 persons who have not returned to the State, four have also tested positive for coronavirus at Delhi so far.
The first person to be detected positive for coronavirus in Assam is 52-year-old Maulana Md Jamaluddin of Karimganj on March 31st, 2020. He had travelled to Delhi on March 5th, 2020.
Sarma said that Jamaluddin is a diabetic and cancer patient. He reached Delhi on March 6th, 2020 and participated in the Markaz congregation till March 10th, 2020. He returned in Rajdhani Express to Guwahati on March 11th, 2020.
Jamaluddin stayed at the Kabarstan Masjid, Athgaon in Guwahati for a night and then returned to Badarpur on Rajdhani Express on March 12th, 2020.
The samples of three persons from Athgaon, who came in to contact with Jamaluddin, were collected and sent for tests. One of the person hail from Morigaon. The samples of the person who accompanied Jamaluddin to Badarpur have also been collected.
Sarma said that a total of 13 persons were directly in touch with Jamaluddin and all of them been traced and quarantined.
Emphasising that Assam has entered a critical stage, Sarma has asked all the people who had visited Nizamuddin to voluntarily reveal themselves.
Photo credit: siasat.com
