The government on Tuesday braced itself to contain a possible spread of COVID-19 infection from a large group of persons who had returned from the Tablighi Jamat centre at Nizamuddin in New Delhi in early March.
At least 300 persons from Kerala had attended the back-to-back meetings from which the disease had radiated to outlying States.
Officials said there was cause for concern but not panic. The first batch had left the centre on April 5, and at least 80 persons reached Kerala. A random check revealed that none of them had tested positive for the virus, and most had passed the incubation period unaffected. However, the situation could change as the testing gets more extensive.
Of the 300 attendees, an estimated 150 persons from the State had left the centre to other regions for religious work. The government was ascertaining their status. Some had hunkered down in New Delhi to weather the curfew.
The police had tracked down the seminarians to different parts of Kerala. One, a retired chemistry professor from Pathanamthitta, had died in the national capital.
The Kerala Police are on overdrive to identify local people who might have put themselves at risk by interacting closely with the returnees. Law enforcers are analysing the mobile phone usage history of the attendees to retrace their movement.
The State government is also concerned that scores of persons from nearby Salem, Madurai and Erode had stayed at the sprawling Tablighi seminary in New Delhi along with the Keralites.
The State has strong social and commercial links with the regions in Tamil Nadu. The police said delegates in Tamil Nadu might have been in touch with their friends and relatives in Kerala. An official said the delegates had sheltered in mosques in different parts of the country during their journey back from New Delhi. The police were trying to identify the spots.
A senior State police official said religious leaders from Thailand and Indonesia had attended the meeting. The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has identified most of them and send advisories to their respective countries.
.png?w=600)
