Health Minister B. Sriramulu has said that of the total 342 persons who returned to the participating in the religious event in Nizamuddin in New Delhi, nearly 200 have been traced, while the whereabouts of the remaining are being tracked with the help of the Home Department.
Addressing presspersons after holding a review meeting here on Wednesday, he said that swab samples of 13 persons had been sent for tests and all of them were found to be negative.
Those who have already been traced have been home quarantined, he said.
He said that of the 62 persons who arrived from Malaysia and Indonesia, 12 have been traced while work is under way to trace the remaining persons. “The Home Department is helping us in this work. The details would be made public as and when we trace them,” Mr. Sriramulu said.
With regard to COVID-19 testing labs, he said that seven labs are working, while work is on to set up more labs.
“Elected representatives here have demanded one such lab for Vijayapura. I have directed the Deputy Commissioner to send a proposal. We will try to set up one such lab in the government hospital here,” he said.
The Minister said that so far, no coronavirus positive case has been reported in the district. He added that if any such case is reported, then the entire district government hospital would be converted into a COVID-19 hospital after shifting in-patients to private hospitals.
Earlier, Deputy Commissioner Y.S. Patil said that 10 persons arrived from Delhi on March 13 after participating in the religious congregation there. He said that though their restricted 14 day quarantine period has ended, they have not shown any symptoms of coronavirus. However, their swab samples have been sent for tests.
In Bagalkot, Deputy Commissioner K. Rajendra said that 19 persons are found to have attended the congregation. Of these, only one returned to the district and the others are in other districts.
