E-Paper
Two Punjab men who returned from Nizamuddin Markaz event test positive for Covid-19
Had been socialising after returning to Mohali on March 17; Mauli Baidwan and Kumbra villages, where they live, sealed
Two out of three men from Mohali who attended Tablighi Jamaat’s Markaz event at Nizamuddin in Delhi last month tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday, taking the count to 12 in the district.
At least 60% coronavirus cases in Delhi are linked to the same congregation, which has emerged as a super-spreader event across India.
The patients, aged 42 from Mauli Baidwan in Sector 80 and aged 62 from Kumbra, Sector 68, attended the event between March 1 and 15 and returned to Mohali on March 17. The third man, who tested negative, is also a resident of Mauli Baidwan. After receiving the reports, the Mohali administration sealed both Mauli Baidwan and Kumbra villages.
“The two have been moved to Gian Sagar Hospital in Banur and are responding well to treatment. We have taken samples of 10 more people from Dhakoli in Zirakpur, who had attended the same event. Their reports are awaited,” said Mohali civil surgeon Dr Manjit Singh.
Mauli Baidwan is a densely populated area. It is learnt the two patients had been socialising after returning from Delhi two weeks ago.
“We returned from Delhi on March 17. Initially, I just developed fever, but after taking medicine, I was fine. On April 2, police took us to the civil hospital in Phase 6 and our samples were taken. We had no awareness about this virus,” said the patient from Mauli Baidwan. “Had we known we were infected, we would have come to hospital on our own,” said the other man.
248 traced in Chandigarh, Panchkula
The contact tracing team of the Chandigarh municipal corporation till Friday quarantined 123 people who either attended the Markaz event in Nizamuddin or came in contact with such persons.
Nineteen of them belong to the Patiala Jamaat, said officials.
Police on Wednesday had identified five people living in Mauli Jagran suspected of having attended the religious congregation at Tablighi Jamaat’s headquarters in Delhi’s Nizamuddin area. A resident of Mata Raj Kaur Gurdwara in Manimajra had also attended one such congregation at Mobina Masjid Ramganj in Jaipur, Rajasthan.
Also, 15 members of Tablighi Jamaat were residing at Noorani Masjid in Bapu Dham, Sector 26, and came to the city on March 17 after attending a congregation in Maharashtra.
In Panchkula, two men who had attended the religious congregation in Nizamuddin were on Friday admitted to the isolation ward of the civil hospital in Sector 6.
Deputy civil surgeon and nodal officer Dr Rajiv Narwal said: “Till now, we have traced 125 people who have returned from Rajasthan, Maharashtra and other states after attending religious congregations. However, among them, two men were found to have visited the Delhi-based headquarters of Tablighi Jamaat. Their samples have been taken for Covid-19 testing.”
Of the remaining, 76 are quarantined in Nada Sahib and 47 at a facility in Mauli village, Raipur Rani. Meanwhile, health teams carried out surveillance at Rehna village in Raipur Rani, Bar village in Kalka and Banoi Khuda Baksh village in Pinjore, where these people reside.
