Coronavirus: Latur reports first eight cases, all contacts of Tablighi Jamaat from Andhra Pradesh

“A group of 12 people was travelling from Haryana to Andhra Pradesh. They had apparently come in contact with those who had attended the Nizamuddin congregation,” said Shrikant.

He said the 12 persons were stranded in Latur after their vehicle driver fled. “They were in Latur district for a few days. When our officials approached them, they told us they were travelling to Andhra Pradesh, but their driver had fled. We collected their throat swab samples and sent them to the National Institute of Virology. Eight of them have been found to be positive,” said Shrikant. All of them have been admitted to Latur Government Hospital.

He said till Friday, Latur didn’t have a single case of coronavirus. “As many as 59 people have been home-qurantined and reports of 95 people have been negative. In all, we have examined over 4,000 people in Latur district,” he said.

The district collectorate said in each taluka of the district, 100-bed isolation units have been kept ready. Collectorate officials said they have 39 ventilators and 100 PPE suits for medical staff. “We have ordered 17,000 more suits for our medical staff…,” they said.

The district administration said it has issued strict directives to local residents to stay at home, and even morning walkers are being caught and punished. In the last two-three days, several morning walkers have been caught and FIRs against 250 have been filed for violating prohibitory orders, said district officials.