As many as 86 people have travelled to different districts of Bihar after attending the religious congregation at the Tablighi Jamaat Markaz at Nizamuddin in New Delhi.
Also read | Tablighi Jamaat and COVID-19: The story so far
“Out of the 86 persons who have returned to Bihar after attending the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in New Delhi, 37 have been identified — 17 are from Patna, 13 from Buxar and seven persons are from Katihar. The ATS (Anti-terrorism Squad) is working on locating the rest of them, ” Bihar Director General of Police (DGP) Gupteshwar Pandey told media persons on Wednesday after a high-level meeting of State’s COVID-19 crisis management group in Patna.
Listen | Tablighi Jamaat, definition of hotspots and debate around masks | The Hindu In Focus Podcast
“All the 37 persons who have been identified, including 12 Kyrgyzstan nationals, have been subjected to medical examination and quarantined,” Mr. Pandey.
The DGP also said that the identification of 57 international travellers is to be ascertained.
Earlier last week, a 65-year-old preacher from Malaysia, who too had attended the religious congregation in New Delhi, had travelled to Araria district in Bihar, where he died two days ago. But the district administration said the death was caused by a cardiac arrest and the deceased had shown no symptoms of COVID-19.
Bihar has, so far, reported 23 COVID-19 positive cases with one death. “Most people who have tested positive have a travel history,” said State Principal Health Secretary Sanjay Kumar.
The State Chief Secretary Deepak Kumar said, “All those who have come to the State from March 15-23 are to be screened and their samples will be collected for the COVID-19 test.”