E-Paper
Two Tablighi Jamaat members test positive in UP, 884 quarantined
The state government said it has also identified foreign nationals who were violating their visa conditions.
Two Tablighi Jamaat members tested positive for Sars-CoV-2 in Uttar Pradesh, one in Ghazipur and another in Meerut’s Sardhana, state officials said at a press briefing in capital Lucknow on Thursday.
Additional chief secretary (Home) Awanish Kumar Awasthi said 1172 Tablighi Jamaat members have been identified in various districts of the state so far and the health department has quarantined 884 of them. He added that samples of 429 Jamaat members have already been sent for tests and except for two, all results were awaited. He said that the rest will also be tested.
Several members of the Tablighi Jamaat, who participated in a religious congregation or Markaz in Delhi’s Nizamuddin in March, have been found to be infected with the virus, a few of them have also died. Nationwide efforts to trace the participants and their contacts, who may be carrying the disease, is on.
Awasthi said 304 Jamaat members were found in Meerut followed by 197 in Varanasi, 187 in Gorakhpur, 145 in Bareilly, 104 in Agra, 70 in Gautam Buddha Nagar, 69 in Lucknow, 40 in Prayagraj, 33 in Kanpur and 24 in other districts located in the Lucknow division.
The state police have also identified 287 people of foreign origin who were staying in the state on tourist visas, all barring one--who is missing-- have been quarantined, Awasthi said, and added that a majority of them did not inform the local police about their whereabouts.
Passports of 211 such foreigners who arrived on tourist visas and yet participated in religious activities have been seized, he said.
“Passports of 211 foreign nationals have been seized after registration of 34 FIRs in 14 districts for violation of the Foreigners’ Act. Several people who gave them shelter and concealed their presence in the state have also been booked in this connection,” he said.
Action against them will be taken under the Epidemic Control Act 1897 as well as the Disaster Management Act, he said.
The district magistrates and superintendents of police of all the 75 districts have been directed to carry out extensive searches to locate foreigners residing illegally.
A senior police official at the director general of police headquarters in Lucknow said state police teams, including intelligence sleuths were deployed to trace Tablighi Jamaat members and foreign nationals.
He said while FIRs were lodged against the Jamaat members in 14 districts, no action will be taken till the quarantine period is over.
Awasthi said the district police officials have been asked to monitor the tracking exercise till all Jamaat members were quarantined.
