As many as 41 persons from various parts of Visakhapatnam district who attended a religious congregation in the Nizamuddin Dargah in New Delhi between March 13 to 15 have been shifted to the Isolation Ward at the Government Hospital for Chest and Communicable Diseases (GHCCD) in the city, late on Monday night.
The District COVID-19 Prevention Cell has taken immediate action following instructions from the Union Government after Telangana had reported the death of six persons who attended the congregation.
Tracing attendees
Sources said the number of people is likely to increase, as the Cluster Committee teams under the guidance of the District Collector are tracing people who have attended the religious programme and also travelled in the train from Nizamuddin to Visakhapatnam. It was learnt that officials are also contacting religious heads to ascertain if there are any more persons who had attended the event.
It may be recalled that on March 30 late night, the Telangana government has announced that six persons who had attended the religious congregation in Nizamuddin area of New Delhi had died of COVID-19 in the last few days. The late night statement also stated that several persons from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh had attended the three-day religious congregation and many of them might have contracted the virus.
A high alert has been sounded in many districts of Andhra Pradesh in this regard.