35 of a pilgrim group from UP booked for evading Covid-19 norms

Pilibhit (Uttar Pradesh), March 29 (IANS) Thirty-five people of a group of 37 that returned from a religious trip from Saudi Arabia, have been booked for hiding their travel history and defying the quarantine.

A mother and son from the group have tested positive for coronavirus and are undergoing treatment.

According to reports, the group that belongs to Amaria town of Pilibhit district, had gone to perform ‘umrah’ in Mecca and the members returned to the villages via Mumbai on March 19 and all its members were stamped for self-quarantine at their homes.

Members of the group, however, allegedly removed the ‘home quarantine’ stamp with the help of a perfume.

Suspicion arose when the health condition of a woman, a part of the group, deteriorated and later she was found coronavirus positive.

Her son, too, has been declared corona positive.

“The group avoided air route and chose to travel by train from Mumbai to Lucknow,” said an official.

All 37 members of the group had been stamped ‘home quarantine’.

Three days ago, the 73-year-old woman was found to be infected with novel coronavirus (Covid-19) and her 33-year-old son tested positive on Wednesday.

The elderly woman was accompanied by 36 other pilgrims of Pilibhit who have been kept under quarantine for at least 28 days. The man’s report was released by King George’s Medical University (KGMU).

The Covid-19 infection was believed to have been transmitted to the man from his mother as he had stayed with her in the isolation ward despite not showing any preliminary symptoms of the virus.

“We tried our best to keep the man in quarantine at old district government hospital along with his father, elder brother’s wife and 36 other pilgrims but he insisted on staying with his mother,” said Dr C.M. Chaturvedi, the Additional Chief Medical Officer.

A district official said that the 35 others in the group have been booked for deliberately risking the health of the community by avoiding detection and undergoing thermal screening.

–IANS

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