Coronavirus: Punjab govt prohibits all kind of congregations

The Punjab government on Thursday prohibited all kind of gatherings, including religious ones, in the wake of the revelation that many people who attended the Tablighi Jamaat's congregation in New Delhi's Nizamuddin last month have to come to the state.

The Nizamuddin area of New Delhi, where the jamaat's headquarters is situated, came to limelight after a large number of people who attended the gathering there were tested positive for coronavirus.

According to a statement, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, who was holding a videoconferencing with state officials, said he will personally talk to the acting Jathedar of the Akal Takht in this regard.

He directed the chief secretary to discuss the matter with the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee in view of the upcoming Baisakhi celebrations.

The chief minister also ordered a mandatory 21-day quarantine for all those who returned to the state from Delhi's Nizamuddin since January this year.

He directed the police and health department to constitute special teams to trace such people.

According to DGP Dinkar Gupta, around 200 people from Punjab had visited Nizamuddin.

At different times, 12 districts are believed to be affected, he said.

Principal Secretary (Health and Family Welfare) Anurag Aggarwal told the CM that they have so far received a list of 125 people, of whom 73 have been traced.

He said samples were collected in 25 cases who had come to Mansa as late as March 19.

As a precautionary measure, all of them had been placed in quarantine, he added.

Officials told the CM that in Pathankot, 111 migrant labourers from Jammu and Kashmir were stuck and had been accommodated in marriage palaces and other places, with strict social distancing norms being maintained.

Ludhiana, with 5.25 lakh migrant labourers, had built 60 camps though only two were occupied, officials told the CM.