Many Tablighi Jamaat returnees from south continue to test postive for COVID-19

Chennai, Apr 5 () Many Tablighi Jamaat returnees fromsouthern states continued to test positive for coronavirus onSunday, with Tamil Nadu reporting the bulk of the numbers with85 such infected persons.

Ten Malaysian Jamaat meet attendees were offloaded from aspecial flight bound for the Asian country here, while aTelangana ophthalmologist was quarantined after he attended apreparatory meeting of the congregation in Nizamuddin West inSouth Delhi last month.

Kerala reported eight fresh cases of COVID-19, four ofthem with a history of attendance in the religious meet.

In Karnataka, seven new coronavirus cases were confirmedon Sunday, with five of them being Tablighi Jamaatcongregation attendees.

Nizamuddin West in Delhi has emerged as the epicentre forthe spread of coronavirus to different parts of the countryafter thousands of people took part in an Islamic congregationorganised by the Tablighi Jamaat from March 1-15 and returnedto their states.

In Tamil Nadu, as many as 85 of the 86 cases reported onSunday were returnees of the Delhi event, taking the totalnumber of cases in the state to 571, trailing behindMaharashtra which tops the list with a total of 690 patients.

The 85 men were attendees of the religious conference,Tamil Nadu Health SecretaryBeela Rajesh said.

Of these 571 cases, 522 had attended the Delhi meet,according to government data as of Sunday.

Further, 10 Malaysian attendees ofthe congregation wereon Sunday offloaded from a special chartered flight toMalaysia from here, officials said.

Of the 167 Malaysian Tamils who boarded the flight, 10persons were offloaded after it was ascertained they hadparticipated in the recent meeting at the national capital,they said.

After participating in the meeting, they had visitedTenkasi district in southern Tamil Nadu and had stayed therebefore arriving in Chennai to leave for Malaysia in thespecial flight today.

It is, however, not immediately known if the Jamaatparticipants will be quarantined by health authorities or not.

Kerala also reported fresh COVID-19 cases, with four ofthe total eight having attended the Tablighi event in Delhi.

"As of date, 10 people who had returned from Nizammuddinin Delhi have been tested positive," Health Minister K KShailaja said in a release.

In Karnataka, seven new coronavirus cases were reportedon Sunday, including five who had attended the Tablighi Jamaatmeet.

Further, a Telangana government ophthalmologist has beenplaced under hospital quarantine after he attended apreparatory meeting for the Jamaat congregation, officialssaid.

The COVID-19 test report of the eye specialist, workingat the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences at Adilabad,was awaited, they said.

The man, also a Jamat functionary and reportedly anorganising committee member, had visited Delhi on March 8 andreturned to Adilabad two days later, a senior official said.

While he did not disclose his Delhi visit, he attended topatients from March 12 to April 1. However, he was not partof the religious congregation, he said.

The ophthalmologist's name cropped up when officialswere verifying a list of persons vis-a-vis the congregation,following which health authorities were alerted.

On their advice, he has been placed in isolation sinceApril 1 and tests were conducted, official sources said.

Incidentally, Telangana has seen the most fatalities inthe south, with nine of the deceased having had a history ofattending the religious meeting at Nizamuddin. VGN VVK RRTGMS SA APRRAVINDRANATH APRRAVINDRANATH