175 Tested, 2000 Quarantined After Attending A Mosque Event At Nizamuddin

Akshara Bharat

A group of 175 individuals from Delhi’s crowded Nizamuddin area are currently being tested for coronavirus, in several hospitals. There are speculations of them being infected earlier this month on March 18, 2020, during an event at the Alami Markaz Banglewali Masjid, that featured visitors from Malaysia, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Kyrgyzstan. The gathering of Tablighi Jamaat preachers was attended by more than 1200 people

One man from the event has already lost his life, and six people have been tested positive so far. It should be noted that it is the single largest group of people that is being examined for coronavirus, at the same time.

On the fateful day, there were nearly 1,200 people in the mosque, especially from Southern India, in addition to those from Delhi itself. A day after the Janata Curfew, these people were safely escorted to the airports by the police; however, they returned and now about 2,000 remain in the shrine complex in the thickly-populated locality in south Delhi.

These individuals including 280 foreigners, are currently staying in a six floor dormitory complex. The Delhi police reached out to the home ministry and reported this potentially grim situation, after more than 300 people started displaying symptoms related to COVID-19.

Although, it is yet to be established that the man who died – he was from Tamil Nadu — had coronavirus. Meanwhile, the area has been cordoned off and the police are patrolling to ensure that no one violates the quarantine. Moreover, drones have been deployed to ensure that no one breaches the lockdown in that area.

Visitors to the event include a religious clergyman, who succumbed to coronavirus last week in Srinagar. He also visited the Deoband seminary in Uttar Pradesh before returning to Kashmir.

Among other attendees was an Indonesian and six Saudi citizens, who were sent back to their home countries. One man who tested positive in Andhra Pradesh is also connected to this event.

According to the authorities, contact-tracing is on to identify those exposed to the fatal virus in Srinagar and Deoband.

Distressingly, many people from the event have already dispersed to different parts of the country. In the worst case scenario, this can lead to a disastrous surge in the COVID-19 cases in the country. As of March 30, 2020, over a thousand people have tested positive in India and more than 30 have lost their battle to the deadly virus.