3 Tablighi event returnees test positive in Puducherry

Three people, who attended the Tablighi Jamat event in Delhi, tested positive for coronavirus here on Wednesday while six others were under observation in the union territory, officials said. Two of them were from Puducherry while another person was from neighbouring Tiruvandarkoil village, Director of Health and Family Welfare services S Mohan Kumar said.

The third patient was first admitted to a private medical college and was shifted to the Indira Gandhi government Medical college hospital and the blood samples were tested in JIPMER, he said. They were among the six returnees from Puducherry who had participated in the religious congregation in Delhi recently.

Chief Minister V Narayanasamy appealed to all those who took part in the religious meet from the union territory to volunteer themselves for screening. A total of 21 people -- 17 from Puducherry and four from Karaikal -- had attended the congregation in Nizamuddin area last month, and only nine had returned to the Union Territory, he said.

The Swarnam Nagar locality here where the two of the three infected people resided was cordoned by officials. Earlier, Puducherry's first positive case was reported from Mahe, an enclave of the union territory in Kerala. The woman had, however, has since recovered.

Kumar said two of the three patients were admitted to the government hospital here and tests of their blood samples done in JIPMER, a premier health institute, returned positive for the virus. Others were under observation in government and private hospitals here.

Three people who returned to Karaikal had been admitted to the isolation ward in the government hospital there and their blood samples had been sent for testing in neighbouring Tiruvarur Government Medical college hospital, Narayanasamy said. He said the officials of the Departments of Health and Police had been collecting details about the people who had been in contact with those who returned after attending the religious event in the national capital.

The Chief Minister said there could be more people who had returned to Puducherry. "I request all those who returned to Union Territory to voluntarily disclose the particulars and turn up for medical tests so that the spread of the virus could be arrested promptly," he said.

The Tabligh-e-Jamaat's Markaz in Delhi's Nizamuddin West has emerged as a hotspot of coronavirus as 24 people have tested positive for COVID-19 following which a major area has been sealed and an FIR lodged against its cleric for violating government order..