3 Jamaat members of Mandi test positive

Pratibha Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, April 2

Three persons of the Tablighi Jamaat from Mandi district, who attended the religious congregation at Delhi, have tested positive for coronavirus, raising the total infected persons to six, including one death.

Out of these three, two are from Mandi town while one from Sundernagar.

Samples of eight persons of the Jamaat, who returned from Delhi on March 21 and were staying at a mosque at Nakroh in Una, were sent for testing yesterday. “Samples of three out of these eight persons have tested positive and they have been shifted to Tanda medical college at Tanda in Kangra today,” confirmed RD Dhiman, Additional Chief Secretary, Health.

Their samples were collected from a centre of the Jamaat at Nakroh village under Gagret sub-division in Una yesterday. Officials said many Jamaat followers, from all over Himachal, were staying at the centre in Nakroh after returning from Delhi on March 21.

Surprisingly, they were not quarantined despite strict directions being issued for anybody who was entering the state from outside. The authorities have mapped 37 of the primary contact of these three persons. They have been quarantined and in case of any symptoms, their samples will be taken.

All three have been shifted to Dr Rajendra Prasad Medical College at Tanda in Kangra where another positive case is being treated.

A total of 168 persons from Himachal had returned to the state after attending the congregation at Delhi and 17 had been quarantined in Delhi. The samples of two persons from Indora in Kangra, who too had attended the congregation at Nizamuddin, have tested negative while the sample of the third person has failed and a re-test will be done. All three had been admitted to zonal hospital at Dharamsala after they had fever and cough.

Out of the total 27 samples tested today, three have tested positive while one will be re-tested. Himachal has so far recorded one corona death.

Dhiman said a total of 168 persons of Tablighi Jamaat, who attended the religious congregation at Nizamuddin in Delhi, have been traced and quarantined in the state. The health authorities are monitoring their condition to see if they show signs of covid symptoms.

Besides, 168 Jamaat persons from all over Himachal who have returned from Delhi, 17, including 14 from Chamba district, two from Sirmour district and one from Bhuntar in Kullu have been quarantined by Delhi Disease Surveillance Officer in the national capital only.

Understanding the sensitivity of the issue, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur directed the officers to keep a close watch on the persons who had visited Nizamuddin in New Delhi during the recent past so that such persons could be kept under strict surveillance and medical advice.

Village sealed, being sanitised

Una: After the report of three persons testing positive for corona infection were received, DC Sandeep Kumar ordered that the three-km area in Nakroh village be sealed. The police and health authorities have been rushed to the religious place where the Muslim preachers were staying.

The DC said the area is being cordoned off and would be sanitised. He has ordered curfew in the sealed area. It is learnt that those who returned from Nizamuddin after attending the Tablighi Jamaat’s Markaz at Nakroh were religious preachers and belonged to different parts of the state.

Meanwhile, the health department today took samples of three others from the same Jamaat, having symptoms resembling those of coronavirus infection. The report is expected to be received tomorrow, said Chief Medical Officer Dr Raman Kumar Sharma. — OC