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Delhi Police registers FIR against Tablighi Jamaat’s Maulana Saad and others under the Epidemic Act

OpIndia Staff
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Delhi Police registers FIR against Tablighi Jamaat’s Maulana Saad and others under the Epidemic Act

Delhi police have registered FIR against Tablighi Jamaat preacher Maulana Saad and other members of the outfit under section 3 of The Epidemic Diseases Act (1897) for organizing the congregation at the times of severe lockdown amidst the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak.

The event which gave rise to the numerous positive cases of coronavirus across states was organized in the mid-march. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday claimed that 1,548 people were evacuated from the Markaz Tablighi Jamaat over the past three days. Out of these, 441 people were found with the symptoms of COVID-19 and have been isolated at the hospitals while others are quarantined.

Union Home Ministry said there were about 1,746 people staying in Hazrat Nizamuddin Markaz as of March 21, the area became a hotspot for the outbreak of coronavirus in India. Of these, 216 were foreigners and 1,530 were Indians. Additionally, about 824 foreigners had been engaged in Tablighi Jamaat activities in various parts of the country.

Read: The one true pandemic: How Tablighi Jamat has become the ‘super spreader’ for coronavirus in Asia

Union Home Ministry also said that the foreign Islamic preachers who visited India on a tourist visa but attended the Islamic religious conference organized by the “Tablighi Jamaat” are in violation of visa rules and almost 800 such Indonesian Islamic preachers, who attended the event, may now be blacklisted for breaking the visa rules.

On 21 March 1746 people had assembled for Tablighi Jamaat at Nizamuddin Markaz in South Delhi out of which around 1530 hailed from India and rest from the foreign.

‘If 70,000 angels cannot save you, how can a doctor?’ preached the Maulana of Markaz, Nizamuddin amidst Coronavirus outbreak

OpIndia Staff
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‘If 70,000 angels cannot save you, how can a doctor?’ preached the Maulana of Markaz, Nizamuddin amidst Coronavirus outbreak

The Markaz, Nizamuddin in Delhi is at the heart of the Wuhan Coronavirus outbreak in the country. Hundreds of potential infections have occurred during a religious event organized at the place earlier this month. Moreover, around 2500 people were housed at the Masjid as late as the 22nd of March and after 1,500 of them left on the 23rd, around a thousand people were still holed up inside.

The whole episode escalated when 163 people who were present at the Markaz, Nizamuddin were admitted to the Lok Nayak Hospital after showing symptoms of the Wuhan Coronavirus. At least eight people who attended the event have died of the virus thus far. The Delhi Police on Monday announced that it will request the Delhi Police to register an FIR against the Maulana of Markaz, Nizamuddin. Since then, an FIR has been registered against the Maulana and others under Section 3 of The Epidemic Diseases Act (1897) for organizing the Islamic event at Markz, Nizamuddin amidst the Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic.

Now, a video has surfaced where the Maulana of Markaz, Nizamuddin can be heard speaking on the Wuhan Coronavirus. The speech is apparently from the 23rd of March. The speech makes his callous attitude towards the pandemic quite clear. The video begins with the Maulana saying that a person cannot run away from death because Allah has mandated that death lies ahead of a person, not behind.

At one point during the sermon, the Maulana says that Muslims should be praying to angels if they are sick. He says how can any doctor save someone from a disease if seventy thousand farishtey (angels) cannot save them. He further says that now is not the time to spread panic and neither is it the time for ‘achhoot banana, achoot bana na’, presumably referring to the call for social distancing made by the Government of India. He repeatedly says that in times of such crisis, Muslims should worship Allah more instead.

The Maulana of Markaz, Nizamuddin says that Mosques are being shut down for congregation which is wrong. He further asked Muslims how could they believe that being in close proximity could infect them with the Wuhan Coronavirus. He questioned Muslims why do they not believe that Allah is protecting them at this time of crisis. The Maulana declared the suggestions given by health experts to be a conspiracy against Islam. According to him, all the preventive measures recommended are part of a conspiracy to ensure that Muslims do not eat from the same plate and do not sit together.

Screenshot of the video of the Maulana’s full speech uploaded on the YouTube page of Delhi Markaz

The Maulana of Markaz Nizamuddin told Muslims that the Wuhan Coronavirus shall pass but their faith in Islam should remain. He dubbed the virus a conspiracy to separate Muslims from each other. He said that Muslims should not continue to stay together and the recitation of the Namaz should never stop. The Maulana contended that new diseases are spreading across the world because new manners of sins have also developed. Throughout the discourse, people from the Jamaat can be heard coughing.

Given the Maulana’s speech, it is no surprise that the Markaz, Nizamuddin in Delhi has become the hotspot for the Wuhan Coronavirus. A huge number of infections have been linked to the event at the Masjid which is also the global centre for the Tablighi Jamaat, an Islamic missionary organization that is known to be used by terrorist organizations to secure travel for their members. The Tablighi Jamaat is also responsible for spreading the Wuhan Coronavirus across numerous countries in the region as well.

Rajdeep Sardesai falsely claims Rahul Gandhi was ‘probably’ the first politician to raise alarm over Coronavirus: Here are the facts

OpIndia Staff
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Rajdeep Sardesai falsely claims Rahul Gandhi was ‘probably’ the first politician to raise alarm over Coronavirus: Here are the facts

Propagandist-in-Chief Rajdeep Sardesai created quite a stir on social media today after claiming that Rahul Gandhi was ‘probably’ the first national politician to warn about the Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic and implied that India would have been better off if the former Congress president was taken seriously instead of being mocked at.

Source: Twitter

As it turns out, the government had begun taking the Wuhan Coronavirus seriously long before Rahul Gandhi spoke out on the matter. In fact, India Today, where Rajdeep Sardesai is the consulting-editor and anchors a show on, had reproduced a report on the government’s actions to combat the virus by PTI on the 21st of January, twenty-three days before Rahul Gandhi spoke of it.

The report said, “The Civil Aviation Ministry has directed seven airports including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata to make arrangements for screening of passengers arriving from China in the wake of outbreak of an infection caused by a new strain of virus there.” “The MoCA has directed for all logistics support and arrangements to be made immediately with regard to screening of passengers arriving in India from China including Hong Kong at the identified airports — Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Cochin apart from three airports at Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata identified earlier,” a statement issued by the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) was quoted as saying.

The action plan in January included thermal screening of passengers along with the setting up of thermal cameras at specified airports. The MoCa had called for the immediate implementation of the action plan in January and strict adherence to it by all authorities involved. The report from January also mentioned that the Union Health Secretary had written to states and Union Territories in order to review their preparedness and strengthen their core capacities in terms of necessary medical requirements.

Thus, quite clearly, the Government of India had begun making adequate preparation and implementing adequate measures in order to combat the crisis. Rajdeep Sardesai’s primary objective in the tweet appears to have been gaining political mileage from a tragedy. Even in the wake of a great crisis, journalists have regularly demonstrated that they are more concerned with taking potshots at the ruling dispensation at the center instead of reporting objectively on facts. Rajdeep Sardesai appears to be no different.

In the aftermath of the Delhi Riots, Rajdeep Sardesai had tried to blame Kapil Mishra for the communal violence that broke out in the national capital. The locals whom Rajdeep Sardesai was interviewing, however, told him that Kapil Mishra said nothing wrong. In January, Rajdeep Sardesai claimed after one of Amit Shah’s rally ahead of the Delhi elections that the Home Minister had only spoken of issues such as Article 370, CAA, Pakistan, Ram Mandir and not on matters such as electricity, schools or hospitals. He quietly deleted his tweet after netizens pointed out that Amit Shah had indeed spoken at great length on these matters.

It remains to be seen whether Rajdeep Sardesai will delete the tweet where he claimed that Rahul Gandhi was ‘probably’ the first politician who raised the alarm on the Wuhan Coronavirus. Meanwhile, his reputation is such that even Ravish Kumar calls him a ‘shopkeeper’.

50 new positive Coronavirus cases in Tamil Nadu linked to the Tablighi Jamaat event at Delhi: Tamil Nadu Health Secretary

OpIndia Staff
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50 new positive Coronavirus cases in Tamil Nadu linked to the Tablighi Jamaat event at Delhi: Tamil Nadu Health Secretary

The Islamic religious conference by the Tablighi Jamaat preachers at the Banglewali Masjid, the Mosque near the Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah in Delhi has emerged as the ground zero for hundreds of potential Coronavirus infections.

Hours after Delhi CM revealed that as many as 441 people who attended the event have developed the symptoms of the deadly infection in Delhi, the Tamil Nadu health secretary, has confirmed that the 50 new positive Coronavirus cases announced in Tamil Nadu are linked to the Nizamuddin Markaz event by the Tablighi Jamaat.

“Out of 1500 members from Tamil Nadu who participated in the conference in Delhi (Markaz, Nizamuddin), 1130 returned to the state, rest stayed in Delhi. Of the 1130 who returned, we have identified 515 across several districts. Out of these people, who attended the conference in Delhi (Markaz, Nizamuddin), 50 have tested positive for #COVID19. Other than that 5 others have also tested positive today. Total number of positive cases in the state now stands at 124”: Beela Rajesh, Tamil Nadu Health Secretary.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Health Minister Dr C Vijayabaskar, in his Tweet said: “Out of the 50 new positive cases in Tamil Nadu, 45 people have a travel history to Delhi. They all reportedly attended the gathering at Nizamuddin Markaz in Delhi. All these patients have been admitted in Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli, Chennai and Namakkal hospitals and are stable”.

The Tamil Nadu government raised an alarm over the Nizamuddin congregation after a high percentage of those who were screened tested positive for the pandemic virus.

Earlier in the day, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, briefing the nation on the ongoing Coronavirus situation in Delhi in the light of the Nizamuddin Markaz event revealed that out of the 1538 people were evacuated from Nizamuddin Markaz, 441 have symptoms of COVID-19 and 1107 under quarantine. While 24 cases have tested positive, the others’ results are awaited.

Kejriwal made the remark at a time when twenty-four people have tested positive for Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) while seven died in the national capital of India following a mass gathering of Tablighi Jamaat preachers at a religious event which was held at Alami Markaz Banglewali Masjid in Nizamuddin here.

Around 8,000 people from across the country attended a gathering between 13-15 March at the Alami Markaz Banglewali Masjid, the headquarters of the “Tablighi Jamaat” in Nizamuddin area of south Delhi. Many cases of coronavirus deaths have now been traced to the Muslim event at the Banglewali Mosque which had seen a large gathering. The Mosque is the global centre for the Tablighi network and the origin of the Tablighi Jamaat, as per Wikipedia.

The Mosque reportedly regularly hosts Islamic followers and preachers from all over India and from many nations in the world. From here, preachers are sent to Mosques all over India.

On March 29 (Sunday), around 50-70 people, who were hiding in the mosque, were taken to LNJP hospital as they showed COVID-19 symptoms. 24 have been tested positive. 

On March 30 (Monday) it was again reported that as many as 200 people from the Nizamuddin Dargah and surrounding areas were taken to various hospitals in Delhi after they showed suspected coronavirus symptoms. As per reports, the area around the Nizamuddin Dargah and the Mosque near it has been cordoned off by Delhi police.

Now, a medical camp has been set up in the area and samples are being tested. Drones have been deployed to maintain strict vigilance over movements. As per reports, over 2000 people in the area are now under quarantine.

The sheer number of gatherers at the religious event among coronavirus suspected cases is a cause of worry because not only have they travelled across Indian before the lockdown kicked in, but also the larger possibility of contact transmission all over India.

Meerut: 14 people hiding in a Maulana’s house arrested, had attended Tablighi Jamaat event amidst​ Coronavirus spread

OpIndia Staff
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Meerut: 14 people hiding in a Maulana’s house arrested, had attended Tablighi Jamaat event amidst​ Coronavirus spread

14 Muslim clerics who attended the Tablighi Jamaat’s event held in Nizamuddin, Delhi, were arrested today from a Maulana’s residence in Meerut. These Jamaatis had come from Nepal, Bihar, Delhi and Maharashtra and were hiding at a Maulana’s place in Meerut following the police crackdown on Tablighi Jamaat which has emerged as the latest hotspot of coronavirus in the country.

Following Tablighi Jamaat’s congregation at Markus in Nizamuddin, various state governments are put on high alert for identifying the attendees who are suspected of carrying COVID-19. The police officials have been instructed to search for these Jamaatis in mosques. On these lines, Meerut police got an intelligence input about the presence of some Jamaatis in the town. However, when they raided a mosque in Kashi village of Meerut, they did not find any Jamaati sheltered there. The police then searched the house of mosque’s Maulana, where they found the 14 Jamaatis who had attended the congregation in Nizamuddin.

All the 14 Jamaatis hiding in the Maulana’s house are being quarantined for 14 days at the same place. The police are also preparing to file a complaint against the Maulana for providing shelter to the Jamaatis. The law enforcement agencies believe that if these 14 clerics are found positive for COVID-19, then the entire Kashi village will have to be quarantined.

According to sources, 57 people from 19 districts of Uttar Pradesh have participated in this event organised by Tablighi Jamaat. The Yogi government has ordered the officials to tenaciously search for everyone Muslim cleric present in the state who may have attended the congregation and mandatorily get them medically examined after 10 of those who attended the function died of COVID-19. Since then, police and local intelligence units are raiding places in search of suspects who have attended the event and are currently on the run to evade arrest and quarantine.

The deaths of Muslim clerics who had attended the Jamaat event in Nizamuddin stirred a furore in the country already battling the scourge of coronavirus. At least 1500 people from different parts of the country and abroad, attended the gathering. As feared, 300 of those who attended the function were later hospitalised for exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19. Many of those who participated in the event have returned back to their places. The authorities are now scrambling to identify all the participants fearing that they all might be acting as potential vectors of the pathogen causing COVID-19.

Assam doctor dies after consuming Hydroxychloroquine, medical superintendent says ‘not sure if death related to drug’

OpIndia Staff
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Assam doctor dies after consuming Hydroxychloroquine, medical superintendent says ‘not sure if death related to drug’

A 44-year old senior anaesthetist, Utpaljit Barman who was working at Pratiksha Hospital in Guwahati has reportedly died from a heart attack after he took anti-malarial drug Hydroxychloroquine, that is also said to be effective against the Wuhan Coronavirus, according to some authorities. Barman reportedly developed heart-related complications and was admitted at another private hospital where he passed away.

Nirmal Kumar Hazarika, Pratiksha hospital’s medical superintendent said, “Several doctors are using hydroxychloroquine as self-medication to prevent COVID-19. Barman too took it.”

He added that Barman did not have underlying health conditions and that doctors were not sure if his death could be linked to hydroxychloroquine. “We are not sure how many doses he had taken; probably it was two doses,” Hazarika said.

The Indian Council of Medical Research had approved the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine for health workers and family members of coronavirus patients who seem to be at higher risk. The recommendations are mainly for those who are closely working with COVID-19 patients.

Few days ago, a French researcher who was tasked by the French govenrment to reasearch possible treatment for the COVID19, reported a successful trial of a new treatment for coronavirus, stating that it can stop the virus from becoming contagious in just six days.

Professor Didier Raoult from hospital l’Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire(IHU Mediterranee), uploaded a video explaining the trials happening earlier this week. He asserted, that the first patient he treated with the drug chloroquine saw a rapid and effective speeding in their healing process and a sharp decrease in the amount of time they remained contagious.

Chloroquine is a drug that is normally used to prevent and treat malaria and was administered via drug Plaquenil. Raoult said, “We included everyone who was in agreement to be treated, which was almost everyone. Two towns in the protocol, Nice and Avignon, gave us infected patients who had not yet received treatment.”

As per reports, the treatment was given to 24 patients, who were reportedly among the first to be infected in the south-east of France, and who had voluntarily admitted themselves to the hospital for the process. Patients were given 600 mg per day for 10 days.

Raoult added, ” We were able to ascertain that patients who had not received Plaquenil (drug-containing hydroxychloroquine) were still contagious after six days, but of those who received Plaquenil, only 25 percent were still contagious after the given period.”

Chloroquine phosphate and hydroxychloroquine have been used to treat coronavirus patients in China, in ongoing COVID-19 clinical trials.

Jharkhand records first Coronavirus case: Malaysian woman who was part of a foreigners group hiding in Ranchi Mosque tests positive

OpIndia Staff
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Jharkhand records first Coronavirus case: Malaysian woman who was part of a foreigners group hiding in Ranchi Mosque tests positive

A Malaysian woman who was recently found hiding in a Mosque in Ranchi has become the first patient of the Wuhan Coronavirus in the state of Jharkhand. “A Malaysian woman, who is among the 24 persons found staying in a mosque in Ranchi, has been found positive. She is absolutely normal and asymptomatic,” Principal Secretary (Health) Nitin Madan Kulkarni said.

24 people including 17 foreigners who were hiding inside the mosque were sent to quarantine on Monday after Ranchi police raided a mosque known as Badi Masjid by locals. They had been sent to isolation wards in Khel gaon in Ranchi. Of the 17 foreigners, eight belong to Malaysia, three belong to Britain, two belong to West indies, two to the Gambia and one each from Holland and Bangladesh.

Ranchi police had received inputs of some people hiding in a mosque called Badi Masjid situated under the Hindpiri police station of Ranchi. Superintendent of Police Anish Gupta told ANI, “They have been kept in isolation and their COVID-19 tests will be done. The probe is being done as per the Ministry of Home Affairs guidelines.” As per reports, the people were living there for the last one month. The police team reached the place with a medical team.

Last week, nine foreigners Muslims were caught hiding at Bundu situated on the outskirts of Ranchi. They were sent to isolation wards. Some of them also belonged to China. Eleven Islamic clerics were nabbed by the Ranchi police from the Rargaon Mosque in Tamar area of ​​Ranchi amidst the threat of Chinese coronavirus. Three Maulvis from China, three from Kazakhstan and four others from Kyrgyzstan were hiding in that mosque.

‘You have to be someone to get insulted bro’: Chetan Bhagat slays Kunal Kamra for his disparaging remark

OpIndia Staff
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‘You have to be someone to get insulted bro’: Chetan Bhagat slays Kunal Kamra for his disparaging remark

Unfunny comedian Kunal Kamra, who keeps pulling stunts on Twitter to stay relevant, was today brutally shown his place when he attempted to mock author Chetan Bhagat.

In a surprising move, Kamra, who routinely attacks PM Modi and Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami on Twitter, trained his guns on Chetan Bhagat and shared a screenshot of a Twitter conversation of the bestselling ‘author’ Chetan Bhagat in which he asks: “Scale of 1-10, how bored are you right now?”

A Twitter user had replied: “11 but still won’t read your book.”

Sharing a picture of this conversation, Kamra tagged Chetan Bhagat saying that even he doesn’t get insulted so frequently and badly.

However, Chetan Bhagat had a perfect riposte up his sleeve. In a befitting reply to Kamra’s tweet, Bhagat said, “You have to be someone to get insulted bro.” At the time of publishing this article, Chetan’s tweet had already garnered approximately 11,000 RTs and 57,000 likes.

Though, Chetan’s unsparing rebuttal should have ended the showdown then and there. But, Kamra, out of his force of habit, tried to make a comeback on Bhagat’s scathing tweet. In a tweet, characteristic of his unfunny humour, Kamra waffled, “Being Someone is the right category your career falls into, no one knows why but for some godforsaken reason, you are still relevant…” Kamra tweeted.

With the coronavirus lockdown underway, Kamra appears to mock Chetan Bhagat to tickle people’s funny bones on Twitter. However, he was, perhaps, unprepared that Bhagat’s stunning response would make him the butt of all jokes. Kamra’s Twitter antics have often yielded disastrous results for him. Earlier, all airlines had Indian airlines had banned him from flying after he uploaded a video on Twitter in which hectored Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami midair on a flight to Lucknow, endangering lives of other fellow passengers.

1,746 people staying in Hazrat Nizamuddin Markaz as of March 21, 441 of them showing COVID-19 symptoms: Read details

OpIndia Staff
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1,746 people staying in Hazrat Nizamuddin Markaz as of March 21, 441 of them showing COVID-19 symptoms: Read details

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) today said there were about 1,746 people staying in Hazrat Nizamuddin Markaz as of March 21, the area that has become the site that became the latest hotspot for the outbreak of coronavirus in India.

Of these, 216 were foreigners and 1,530 were Indians. Additionally, about 824 foreigners had been engaged in Tableegh activities in various parts of the country, confirmed MHA.

“Details of these 824 foreigners were shared on March 21 with the police of states for getting them medically screened and quarantining them. On March 28, states were advised to collect names of Indian Tableegh Jamaat workers to get them medically screened and quarantined.”

“So far, about 2,137 such persons have been identified in different states. They are being medically examined and quarantined. This process is still on and more such people would be identified and located,” confirmed the MHA.

Earlier in the day, the Home Ministry had said that the foreign Islamic preachers who visited India on a tourist visa but attended the Islamic religious conference organised by the “Tablighi Jamaat” are in violation of visa rules and almost 800 such Indonesian Islamic preachers, who attended the event, may now be blacklisted for flouting the visa rules.

Meanwhile, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, briefing the nation on the ongoing Coronavirus situation in Delhi in the light of the Nizamuddin Markaz event revealed that out of the 1538 people were evacuated from Nizamuddin Markaz, 441 have symptoms of COVID-19 and 1107 under quarantine. While 24 cases have tested positive, the others’ results are awaited.

He furthered that the local transmission is under control in Delhi, however, it is possible that many positive cases can come up because of the Markaz event. “Corona’s local transmission is under control in Delhi. As per the reports we are not in the stage of community transmission,” Kejriwal said.

He said no community transmission case has been recorded in the national capital.

“We have analysed 97 cases including 24 cases from Markaz, 41 foreign travellers, 22 close relatives of foreign travellers. The situation is under control, there is no community transmission,” he said.

Kejriwal made the remark at a time when twenty-four people have tested positive for Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) while seven died in the national capital of India following a mass gathering of Tableeghi Jamaat preachers at a religious event which was held at Alami Markaz Banglewali Masjid in Nizamuddin here.

Around 8,000 people from across the country attended a gathering between 13-15 March at the Alami Markaz Banglewali Masjid, the headquarters of the “Tablighi Jamaat” in Nizamuddin area of south Delhi. Many cases of coronavirus deaths have now been traced to the Muslim event at the Banglewali Mosque which had seen a large gathering. The Mosque is the global centre for the Tablighi network and the origin of the Tablighi Jamaat, as per Wikipedia.

The Mosque reportedly regularly hosts Islamic followers and preachers from all over India and from many nations in the world. From here, preachers are sent to Mosques all over India.

On March 29 (Sunday), around 50-70 people, who were hiding in the mosque, were taken to LNJP hospital as they showed COVID-19 symptoms. 24 have been tested positive. 

On March 30 (Monday) it was again reported that as many as 200 people from the Nizamuddin Dargah and surrounding areas were taken to various hospitals in Delhi after they showed suspected coronavirus symptoms. As per reports, the area around the Nizamuddin Dargah and the Mosque near it has been cordoned off by Delhi police.

Now, a medical camp has been set up in the area and samples are being tested. Drones have been deployed to maintain strict vigilance over movements. As per reports, over 2000 people in the area are now under quarantine.

The sheer number of gatherers at the religious event among coronavirus suspected cases is a cause of worry because not only have they travelled across Indian before the lockdown kicked in, but also the larger possibility of contact transmission all over India.

Rajasthan: Many people without any documented symptoms now test positive for the deadly Wuhan Coronavirus in Bhilwara, says report

OpIndia Staff
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Rajasthan: Many people without any documented symptoms now test positive for the deadly Wuhan Coronavirus in Bhilwara, says report

Accounting for 25 out of 60 Wuhan coronavirus positive cases reported from Rajasthan, Bhilwara turns into the COVID-19 capital of the state. And now, a new challenge awaits the state authorities in Rajasthan. Many people in Bhilwara, Rajasthan, who are not showing any documented symptoms of the infection, are now reportedly being tested positive for the deadly virus.

According to a report by Patrika, despite showing no symptoms, these people who were screened and their blood samples were tested, following the Rajasthan governments decision to screen the entire Bhilwara town for the novel coronavirus, have tested positive for the disease.

All this began when Bhilwara first discovered that two doctors and four medical staffs of the Brijesh Banger Memorial Hospital tested positive for the coronavirus on March 19. The coronavirus-infected doctors of this private hospital treated hundreds of patients before themselves testing positive for the virus. It sparked a scramble to detect their contacts and contain the spread.  

Since then, the city has had 25 confirmed COVID-19 cases with two deaths (as of March 29), and almost all of them can be traced back to this private hospital.

In view of the possibility of a widespread community outbreak, all the 265 staffs of the hospital were quarantined and their blood samples have been sent for testing. However, it has now emerged that few staffs who did not show any symptoms of the infection have also tested positive for the disease.

Doctors said the coronavirus impact was earlier concentrated near the hospital, but now it seems to be moving towards the community stage. They said till now doctors, nursing workers and other staff were the ones to be found positive, but now patients who had been in contact with them, or even others contacted by the medical personnel are turning out to be positive. And many of them have reportedly shown no signs of the illness, despite which they have been tested positive.

This had forced the Bhilwara administration to impose curfew in the entire district and seal all exits. Twenty-five other persons found to have been in immediate contact of affected doctors and health personnel were immediately quarantined. The administration ordered a complete lockdown, sealed markets and launched an all-out screening of 3.5 lakh people in 80,000 households. The exercise is halfway through, but the district magistrate has now alerted neighbouring districts, that a few patients who attended the hospitals were also suspects and needed to be tracked immediately.

Reports say that the administration is now sealing off entry and exit points in individual colonies and localities. The city has a ghost town look while strict curfew orders have been imposed.

The fear of moving towards the Stage-3 (community stage) of infection, has prompted the state health department to send a minibus to Nathdiyas, a large village located in Raipur Tehsil of Bhilwara district, Rajasthan, and pick up all the residing people from there irrespective of them showing the coronavirus symptoms or not. All the people have now been quarantined and will only be left after proper screening and tests.

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