Assam’s Positive Covid-19 Count Rises To Five, All Are Returnees From Nizamuddin Tablighi Event

Five persons, all of them Nizamuddin returnees who had attended the congregation organised by the Tablighi Jamaat, have so far tested Covid-19 positive in Assam. While one person tested positive at Silchar Medical College Hospital Tuesday evening, four more tested positive Wednesday afternoon (1 April).

Assam health minister Himanta Biswas Sarma said the number of positive cases would go up by evening and would cross double digits. Sarma said at a press conference at Guwahati today afternoon that swab samples of a few more Nizamuddin returnees had tested positive in tests conducted at labs in Assam, but they would be confirmed as Covid-19 positive only after confirmatory tests conducted at Pune are received by this evening.

The minister said that of the 415 persons from Assam who attended the congregation at Banglewali Masjid in Delhi’s Nizamuddin, 347 have returned to Assam. Of the 347, 230 have been traced and quarantined. Swab samples of 196 of them have been sent for testing.

Revealing the names and personal details of the persons who have tested positive, Sarma explained he was doing so in order to alert everyone who would have come in contact with them. “I appeal to all who had come in contact with these people to come forward and get themselves tested,” the minister said.

Sarma hoped that the 117 persons who have returned from the Tablighi Jamaat congregation to Assam but are untraceable would be found soon. A massive manhunt has been launched to locate them.

The minister warned that Assam has now entered a critical phase since the Nizamuddin returnees have come into contact with countless others and were engaged in normal day-to-day activities.