Of 391 Tablighis from K’taka, 11 tested positive: CM (LEAD)

Bengaluru, April 2 (IANS) Of the 391 Tablighi Jamaat members identified to have participated in New Delhi’s Nizamuddin mosque from Karnataka in March, 11 tested positive for coronavirus so far, said state Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa on Thursday.

“We have identified 391 Tablighis in the state who went to Nizamuddin mosque in March. Of them, 91 from Bidar in the state’s northern region were tested and 11 of them reported positive and 80 tested negative,” Yediyurappa told reporters here.

Bidar is about 690 km north of Bengaluru in the southern state.

The state health department has kept the remaining Tablighis under home and institutional quarantine across the state for check-up and observation.

“Efforts are on to trace other Tablighis, their primary and secondary contacts, as they might have gone on return from Nizamuddin to other districts for religious activities and stranded due to lockdown,” said the chief minister.

The state government has also directed the district administration to trace, isolate and quarantine the remaining Tabligbis who are yet to report to the health department for testing.

“About 30 Tablighis identified in Bengaluru tested negative for Covid-19. The remaining have also been tested and their results are awaited,” Yediyurappa added.

With the 21-day lockdown in force since March 25 to April 14, Chief Minister appealed to all religious leaders to cooperate with the state in creating awareness of the virus fallout within their community and help his government in locating other Tablighis.

Meanwhile, state health commissioner P.K. Pandey told IANS that about 1,000 people across the state were under the scanner to find out if they came in contact with the Tablighis who returned from Nizamuddin or their primary contacts.

“Based on inputs from police and the central government, we have so far screened about 1,000 people across the state who seemed to have links with the Tablighi returnees from Nizamuddin. Six of them were found to be Covid symptomatic,” said Pandey.

The health department also took about 200 swab samples from the 1,000 people for testing. Results are awaited to identify the primary and secondary contacts of the Tablighis.

–IANS

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