COVID-19: IAF sergeant quarantined after Nizamuddin visit along with 2 colleagues

Senior Journalist Sanjib Kr Baruah reports on a Delhi-based Indian Air Force (IAF) sergeant, who may have attended the Tablighi Jamaat meet in south Delhi’s Nizamuddin, being found COVID-19 positive.

New Delhi:In a revelation that has significant implications, a Delhi-based Indian Air Force (IAF) sergeant who may have attended the Tablighi Jamaat meet in south Delhi’s Nizamuddin was found to be COVID-19 positive after tests were conducted on him.

“As to whether he attended the Tablighi Jamaat event that was held earlier this month is a matter of investigation which is underway,” Wing Commander Indranil Nandi, IAF spokesperson, told ETV Bharat.

“But he had reported that he was in contact with two other IAF personnel from his base. All three have been placed under quarantine now. They are all asymptomatic,” he added.

The IAF sergeant was traced after his mobile phone was found to be located in the crowded Nizamuddin area during the Tablighi Jamaat event.

The Tablighi Jamaat ‘ijtema’ (gathering) near the Banglewali masjid in south Delhi’s Nizamuddin locality has veritably become the Ground Zero of COVID-19 infections in India after a flurry of cases all across the country have been traced to the event.

Cases have been reported from Manipur in the east to Maharashtra in the west, and from Kashmir in the north to Tamil Nadu in the south.

On Saturday, the number of COVID-19 positive cases in India was about to touch the 3,000 mark out of which about 1,000 have been linked to the Nizamuddin Jamaat event.

The incident came a day after at least 11 Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel were found to be infected with the dreaded virus in Panvel near Mumbai.

It is believed that the CISF men may have caught the COVID 2019 infection while on duty at the Mumbai International Airport.

India’s armed forces, the paramilitary and other security forces have been at the forefront of the fight against the fast-spreading virus which is wreaking havoc across the world.