1,205 Tablighi Jamaat attendees quarantined so far in UP: govt official

The Uttar Pradesh government on Sunday said 1,205 people, who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi's Nizamuddin area last month and later returned to the state, have been quarantined so far. Speaking to reporters here, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi said, "A total of 1,499 have been identified from the state so far who had attended the Jamaat. This includes 301 from Meerut zone, 281 from Bareilly zone, 67 from Kanpur zone, 232 from Varanasi zone, 108 from Lucknow zone, 147 from Agra zone, 56 from Prayagraj, and 213 in Gorakhpur. Of the 1,499, as many as 1,205 persons have been quarantined so far." Among the attendees, 305 people were foreigners with passports of 249 of them seized, he added. Fourty-two FIRs have been registered in 20 districts of the state and cases registered against 295 foreigners while efforts are on to ascertain the places they had visited since the event took place, Awasthi pointed out.

He also said 138 of the attendees have so far tested COVID-19 positive. "The number has increased and this is a cause of concern for us," the senior officer said. Religious spots, homes and other places where they had stayed are being ascertained through massive contact tracing, Awasthi said.

Police are using drones to oversee the places in some of the districts for effective monitoring of the lockdown. "The Tablighi Jamaat attendees who tested COVID-19 positive are being monitored as we had got complaints about them not cooperating with the hospital staff," Awasthi said.

He added that if there are others who had attended the congregation and are still left out, they should voluntarily come forward and inform the government. Regarding the condition of prisoners in the state, the Additional Chief Secretary (Home) informed that 10,732 inmates have been released from UP jails so far.

As many as 31 production units of personal protective equioment (PPE) and 99 factory units of hand sanitisers have become functional in the state, he said..

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