Coronavirus: 11 of 14 new cases in Karnataka are Jamaat attendees

Karnataka's COVID-19 cases stood at 124, up by 14 cases from 110 on Thursday. Out of the new cases reported on Thursday, two are from Mysuru, one from Ballari and the rest are attendees of Tablighi Jamaat - nine from Bidar, one from Hyderabad, Telangana, and one from Kalaburagi.

"Based on inputs given by police and the central government, nearly 1,000 people linked to Tablighi Jamaat, Nizamuddin, have been screened by the health department till morning (on Thursday). Out of them, six have been found to be symptomatic. Further, more than 200 swab samples have been drawn so far. Tests are going on in labs and out of nearly 100 preliminary test results, 11 from Bidar district are positive. Contact tracing and isolation works are already on," said Health Commissioner Pankaj Kumar Pandey.

All those who've attended the Jamaat congregation and asymptomatic, within 14 days of their arrival shall be quarantined at a government-monitored quarantine center.

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Meanwhile, seven patients taken from KG Halli Fever Clinic to CV Raman General Hospital in Benglauru were attendees of Tablighi Jamaat. Dr Radhakrishnan HDR, Medical Superintendent, C V Raman General Hospital, told DH, "All of them are in the age group of 20-50 years and so they're not a high-risk group. Plus they have no comorbidities and are all asymptomatic. So we cannot test them. We have to watch them for 14 days and only then send a form with symptoms to the committee who can then give us approval for testing."

Dr Srinivas GA, Bengaluru Urban DHO said, "They reported to the fever clinic only because they were attendees of the congregation not because they had symptoms." So far, 287 people with fever have been screened at 31 BBMP fever clinics according to Thursday's daily media bulletin of the state health department.