The State government on Tuesday braced itself to contain a possible spread of COVID-19 from a set of persons who returned after a conference from the Tablighi Jamaat’s international headquarters at Nizamuddin in southwest Delhi from March 13 to 15.
At least 25 persons from the State attended the meeting from where the disease radiated to outlying States. The police tracked down 10 of the delegates to their homes in Kannur district and one to his house in Wayanad. The respective district authorities have quarantined them. The remaining are in New Delhi. One of them, a retired chemistry professor from Pathanamthitta, died in the national capital.
The government has asked the other persons to hunker down in New Delhi. The government there has shifted many of them to hospitals or quarantine centres.
Tracking efforts on
Kerala Chief Secretary Tom Jose told The Hindu that the State government was “looking into the matter”. The police are on an overdrive to identify persons the returnees could have inadvertently put at risk. Law enforcers are analysing their mobile phone usage history to retrace their movement.
Kerala is concerned that scores of persons from nearby Salem, Madurai and Erode stayed at the sprawling Tablighi seminary along with those from the State. The police said delegates from Tamil Nadu might have been in touch with their neighbours in Kerala.
An official said the delegates sheltered in mosques in different parts of the country during their journey back from New Delhi. The police were trying to identify the spots.
