As many as 78 people from Karnataka belong to the Tablighi Jamaat and all of them have been quarantined in government isolation centres. They will all be tested for COVID-19 and their samples are being collected, said Jawaid Akhtar, Additional Chief Secretary (Health and Family Welfare and Medical Education), on Tuesday.
He said the congregation had become a source of spread in the country. Although the department does not have information on whether all 78 members participated in the congregation at Nizamuddin in Delhi from March 8 to 20, they all belong to the Jamaat.
“All of them were home quarantined three days ago. The person from Sira who succumbed to the infection was one of them,” Mr. Akhtar said. He also appealed to those who participated in the congregation, and those who came in contact with them, to self-report to the Health Department by calling 080-29711171.
ADVERTISEMENT
Earlier in the day, Health Minister B. Sriramulu tweeted that the possibility of all those who participated in the prayer meeting being infected could not be ruled out. As many as 26 of the 78 are from Bidar, he said.
Foreigners
Meanwhile, the State police have traced as many as 50 foreign nationals in the congregation. These include 19 from Kyrgyzstan, 20 from Indonesia, four from South Africa, three from Gambia, and one each from the United States, United Kingdom, France, and Kenya.
ADVERTISEMENT
Efforts are on to quarantine the 300 or so people who attended the programme from various parts of the State.
Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai said the State government had succeeded in tracking down 24 people from Bengaluru who attended the Tablighi Jamaat event. He said the government had alerted thee district administration and sought the support of leaders of the community to track down them down. Terming the tracking of people who attended the programme a challenging task, he said the police have been doing so with the help of the rail authorities.