Three returning from Nizamuddin quarantined in Odisha

BHUBANESWAR: Odisha has identified three people who had traveled back from Hazrat Nizamuddin, attending the Tablighi Jamaat congregating. One of them from Cuttack and two people from Rourkela have been asked to quarantine themselves, said government spokesperson Subroto Bagchi. Late on Tuesday night the state government reported a fourth positive case a 29 year old young man from Bhadrak district with travel history to Dubai.
While about 15 Odias are believed to have attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregating at Hazrat Nizamuddin now narrowed down as the common point of a significant COVID19 outbreak, a dozen of them were still at New Delhi.

Today’s development comes on the back of information that several foreigners – from Malaysia, Indonesia, Sudan and Djibouti – attending this event in Nizamuddin had passed through Rourkela. Speaking on condition of anonymity senior government sources said they were in Odisha from between 13 - 17 March, had reported their arrival and were asymptomatic. Officials in the state’s information department could not verify this fact.

In late February until mid-March there had been congregations of clerics for similar Tablighi Jamaat events across the state. Brahmabarada, in Jajpur district, also hosted the World Muslim Conference attended by an estimated 30,000 people. However, it is important to note, Odisha as of 31 March had four positive cases, 473 samples had been tested. While 57 persons were in isolation wards in hospitals, a total of 11,575 people have registered themselves through the online portal, including 4304 who had returned from abroad after midnight of 3 March 2020.