Gujarat: 72 Tabligh attendees traced; one dead of COVID-19

The Gujarat Police has so far traced 72 persons to various districts who had last month attended a religious congregation at Nizamuddin area in Delhi, which has emerged as a major source for the spread of coronavirus in many states, a top officer said on Wednesday.

Notably, one of the 72 persons died a week ago of COVID-19 while remaining 71 have been quarantined, state Director General of Police (DGP) Shivanand Jha said.

The deceased, a 70-year-old man, hailed from Bhavnagar.

Among the 71 persons, 34 are from Ahmedabad, 19 from Bhavnagar, 12 from Mehsana, 4 from Botad and 2 from Navsari.

"Efforts are still on to identify and trace other attendees. I urge them to voluntarily come forward and contact police so that they can be quarantined," Jha told reporters in Gndhingar, adding that situation could worsen if such people do not come forward.

The Tabligh-e-Jamaat gathering held in Nizamuddin West area of the national capital has emerged as one of the coronavirus hotspots, prompting other states to launch a search for those who attended it and who were possibly exposed to the infection.

Meanwhile, Jha said the exercise to identify the people whohad attended the event is conducted as per a list shared by the Centre.

However, the list carries the names of all the persons who were present in the entire Nizamuddin area during that time.

Earlier in the day, the state health department said that the list received from the Centre stated that around 1500 people from Gujarat had visited Nizamuddin area last month, and that most of them had not attended the markaz.

Meanwhile, alarmed by the markaz incident, the Gujrat Police will now check all religious places in the state and lodge cases if four or more persons are found at one place, the top cop said.

Chief Minster Vijay Rupani has also said that each and every person from the state who had gone to Delhi to attend the congregation will be traced and quarantined.

He even warned of action against those who had attended the Nizamuddin event.

"We will trace each and every one of them and put them under quarantine. We will also lodge complaints against them for breaking the lockdown rules. Such irresistible act, which could harm the entire society can never be tolerated," he said.

Meanwhile, Surat Municipal Commissioner Banchhanidhi Pani said that 43 people who had visited Nizamuddin area were traced on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday and were sent to a central quarantine facility.

"A detailed questioning of these 43 persons has revealed that only one out of them had actually attended the event inside the Markaz while others had gone to Nizamuddin area for some other work or they were on a business trip," said Surat Commissioner of Police RB Brahmbhatt.

While 13 such persons, who were in Nizamuddin area, were traced and quarantined in Bhavnagar on Tuesday, four others were quarantined in Botad district, said Inspector General of Police, Ashok Yadav.

Ten others were traced and quarantined in Valsad while 15 were quarantined in Navsari so far, said authorities.

All of them were part of the 1500 people who had visited Nizamuddin area.