New Delhi: More than 25,500 Tablighi Jamaat members and their contacts have been quarantined in the country till now after the Centre and state governments conducted a ‘mega operation’ to identify them, a senior Union Home Ministry official said Monday.
During the daily briefing, Joint Secretary Punya Salila Srivastava told reporters that five villages in Haryana have been sealed and the residents have been quarantined as ‘foreign members’ of Tablighi Jamaat had stayed there. She added that 1,750 foreign-based members of the Jamaat, out of the total 2,083, have been blacklisted till now by the Indian government.
Action against Tablighi Jamaat members was taken after over 2,300 activists were found to be living at its headquarters in Nizamuddin West here last week, despite the 21-day nationwide lockdown imposed to check the spread of the coronavirus.
At least 9,000 people participated in the religious congregation at the Nizamuddin Markaz last month, after which many of the attendees travelled to various parts of the country.
Srivastava said Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla has written Monday to all the states and Union Territories asking them to ensure that the supply chain of medical oxygen, critical for treatment of COVID-19 affected people, should go on smoothly and these directions should be ‘implemented strictly’ while following norms of social distancing and proper hygiene.
“As you know, medical oxygen is a very critical item for COVID-19. It is very essential to keep its proper supply and stock in the entire country. This is also declared an essential item in both national and WHO list and its production, manufacturing and the entire chain is exempted from lockdown measures,” Srivastava told reporters.
“To reiterate this, the home secretary has again written to state governments and UTs today (Monday) and has told them about the importance of medical oxygen and has directed that its entire supply chain should be properly monitored.” the officer added.
In a separate development, the Gujarat police Monday said they have so far identified and traced 126 people from the state who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation. Among these 126 attendees, 12 persons, all from Ahmedabad, have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, said Gujarat DGP Shivanand Jha.
Search is still on to trace and indentify the others from Gujarat who had attended the gathering held last month at the headquarters of the Tablighi Jamaat, Jha stated.
PTI