22 from Tripura Visited 'Corona Hotspot' Nizamuddin, Confirm Officials

Agartala, March 31, 2020:

Tripura Health Department and the police had already started search operation to trace the people who had participated in the Tablighi Jamaat congregation organized at a mosque located in the area of Nizamuddin, Delhi. Altogether, 22 persons were there from Tripura. 15 had been identified and reportedly safe. The department is trying to trace 7 others, said Health Secretary Debasish Basu.

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Reportedly, Inspector General of Police GS Rao had confirmed that there were people who had participated in the religious congregation from Tripura. "A report from Delhi reached us and we have shared the inputs with the health department”, Rao said. Rao who failed to give an exact figure of the people who might have joined the congregation from Tripura also said that they had started collecting inputs locally also.

IPDS (Integrated Programme Disease Surveillance) officer Dr Deep Debbarma said that the Intelligence wing of the police department, Tripura police and the Health department have undertaken the issue jointly to trace out the participants of the religious congregation.

Attendees from Indonesia, Malaysia, Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya had participated in the Tablighi Jamaat annual congregation amid the nationwide lockdown. According to reports, 24 out of these have tested positive for COVID-19 and 200 others have shown symptoms of the virus. As many as 1,400 people are believed to have been exposed to the virus now.

Of these, as per data shared by Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, 299 people are from Assam. Another data showed that five people from Meghalaya also participated in the congregation.

The Shillong Times Editor, Patricia Mukhim took to her Facebook and lashed out at the International Islamic Conference for organising the same during the lockdown, despite the orders by the Government that no religious practices at Church, Dargahs or Temples should take place until further orders.

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“…Does the lockdown not pertain to this religious community? This is disgusting to say the least,” she wrote. She added, “Now that some from among them have tested Covid positive and about 6 have died, I hope the Government airlifts the rest to some abandoned island until all this health threat is over. This is where religion (and here I mean all religion)becomes a hindrance to public health…Just imagine how many in that group of over a thousand would test positive and how many more would be carriers.. And no this is no Islamophobia. This is a pragmatic soul who is equi-distant from all religions speaking and at a time when we are facing a global health crisis..”

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