Gujarat: 103 persons who attended Tablighi Jamaat congregation traced, second COVID-19 case found from the lot

The Gujarat police on Friday said that in the past three days it has traced 103 persons who had attended the religious congregation of Tablighi Jamaat Markaz in Nizamuddin, New Delhi. Police said that one of the persons has been detected with the coronavirus infection in Ahmedabad who has been quarantined. Earlier, a Bhavnagar man, who had also participated in the gathering, had died from the virus last week.

Director General of Police, Shivanand Jha while briefing media in Gandhinagar said that “In the past three days, we have traced 103 persons who participated in the Tablighi Jamaat Markaz and returned to Gujarat. One of the persons have been found infected with the virus. He has been quarantined as per the guidelines by the health officers, while others have also been isolated as per the guidelines."

Majority of these persons have been found in Ahmedabad, Bhavnagar, Mehsana and Surat among other districts. The state on Friday recorded seven more positive cases of coronavirus, all in Ahmedabad including the one person who attended the congregation. The total figure in the state rose to 95 that included nine deaths.

Meanwhile, state and central government on Friday submitted affidavits in Gujarat High Court which had sought information on persons who attended the congregation and returned to Gujarat. The court observed that “Union of India woke up late” but it is now in full gear to identify violators and track them down.

The state government also made a statement saying that it had received a list of 1350 persons from the central government who attended the gathering and out of them 1287 persons had already been traced. It said that all the temples, churches and mosques in the state have been closed for prayers. It said that Special Operation Group (SOG) in the respective localities are constantly monitoring these lockdown.