E-Paper
Covid-19: Guwahati mosque sealed due to link with Nizamuddin Markaz
Assam recorded its first Covid-19 fatality on Friday when a 65-year-old with travel history to Saudi Arabia and the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi died at the Silchar Medical College Hospital (SCMH).
A mosque in Guwahati has been sealed and declared a containment zone after three of the 29 Covid-19 positive patients in Assam were found to have taken part in a gathering there last month.
Nearly 100 people, including at least 8 who attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi last month, were part of an event held on March 12 inside the mosque.
According to official figures, 617 people from the state who had been to the Nizamuddin Markaz last month had returned to Assam. Twenty-eight of the total 29 positive cases in the state had links to the Delhi congregation.
Assam recorded its first Covid-19 fatality on Friday when a 65-year-old with travel history to Saudi Arabia and the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi died at the Silchar Medical College Hospital (SCMH).
“We have come to know now that there was a congregation at Athgaon Kabarstan Masjid on March 12 where around 100 people including at least 8 people who had come from Nizamuddin Markaz were present,” said Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
“Out of these 8, two have already tested positive and on Thursday another one from Dhubri who had attended the Guwahati gathering has been found positive. Because we have got 3 positive cases from the same venue, we have decided to convert that mosque into a self-containment zone,” he added.
Sarma said like the Nizamuddin Markaz gathering, the mosque in Guwahati has also turned into a “hotbed’ for Covid-19 as three positive people in the state have links to it. The mosque will remain sealed for the next 14 days.
“We have not been able put all the 100 who attended the gathering in quarantine as the authorities of the mosque have not been able to give us the entire list of attendees,” he said.
Health authorities have got details of 58 of the 100 people who attended the Guwahati gathering.
The Assam government has decided to help patients from the state suffering from cancer, kidney ailments and cardiac problems who had gone outside Assam for treatment and are now stranded due to the lockdown. They have been asked to call 0361-2558955 and give details about their problems.
Sarma informed that the state government will procure 1 lakh rapid test kits for the state. He added that a FIR would be filed against one patient from Dhubri district for hiding his travel history.
Authorities in Hailakandi district informed that the last rites of the first Covid-19 deceased was performed a few kilometers away from Hailakandi town in a secluded place following strict decontamination rules.
