12 isolated over suspected COVID-19 linked to Tablighi Jamaat attendee, 3 mosques sanitised

A dozen men from three mosques in Gautam Buddh Nagar were tested for coronavirus and sent to an isolation facility on Saturday, after it emerged that they might have come in contact with a COVID-19 positive man, who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat in Delhi's Nizamuddin last month, officials said.

The three mosques are in the Dadri area of Greater Noida, where the coronavirus-infected man, who hails from Hardoi district in Uttar Pradesh, had stayed in the second half of March, and those have been sanitised, police said.

"We got an input from the police in Hardoi that a man, Umer, had returned home after attending the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Nizamuddin and appeared to be ill. He was examined by doctors and tested positive for COVID-19. We conducted an inquiry and it was found that he and one more person were on a four-month-long foot-march as part of their tour," a police official said here.

"During the period, they came in contact with these people and stayed at the three mosques in Dadri. It has also been found out that two persons from the group had consulted a local doctor for some illness. Umer and the other man then left the area on March 28," he added.

An inspection was carried out in the area by the police, along with officials from the Gautam Buddh Nagar health department and local clerics, on Saturday.

"Twelve men from the three mosques have been examined by doctors and sent to the isolation facility in Sector 39, Noida. Other local residents who may have come in contact with these people are also being traced and the mosques have been sanitised," the police official said.

Two absconding persons, who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat, were held in Greater Noida on Thursday and quarantined, according to the police.

The Tablighi Jamaat's Markaz (headquarters) in Nizamuddin West has emerged as a coronavirus hotspot as hundreds of its attendees have tested positive for COVID-19, while several others are spread across the country and suspected to be carriers of the virus.

At least 1,023 COVID-19 cases have been found to be linked to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation, but massive efforts by various authorities have led to nearly 22,000 people linked to the religious grouping and their primary contacts being quarantined, a Union Health Ministry official said in Delhi on Saturday.