Punjab detects total 186 cases of COVID-19, 18 linked to Tablighi jamaat

The total number of positive cases in Punjab has risen to 186 after two new positive cases were reported today. Of the two positive cases, one is a close contact linked to Tablighi Jamaat.

Chandigarh:Coronavirus cases are increasing in Punjab with two new cases detected on Wednesday including one positive contact from Tablighi Jamaat taking total to 186.

Tablighi Jamaat cases are linked to members who attended the organisation’s religious congregation in Delhi’s Nizamuddin in March 2020. The state has a total of 28 positive cases of Tablighi Jamaat with 18 who attended and 10 their positive contacts.

The state Govt data categorizes Tablighi Jamaat cases into two parts: The first who attended Tablighi Jamaat event ( labelled as A) and second who are primary contacts of these attendees (labelled as B).

The total positive cases (A+B) are 28 with highest from district Mansa. It has 11 cases with 5 attendees and 6 primary contacts of them. All these cases are in Budhlada town which is now completely sealed. Moga has 4 cases, Fatehgarh Sahib 2 cases, Mohali 3 cases, Ludhiana 4 cases and Kapurthala, Muktsar, Jalandhar and Sangrur have one case each. Majority of these cases are migrants from other states. 5 of them are from Chattisgarh,7 from Maharastra and one from Uttar Pradesh. 5 are from Punjab.

Punjab Govt on April 7, 2020, served 24 hours ultimatum to all members of Tablighi Jamaat who may have attended Nizamuddin event to report to the nearest police station or ready to face criminal prosecution. Punjab Chief Minister in a video conferencing meeting with party MLAs on April 8 said that 573 out of 611 has been traced.

The state so far has collected 5193 samples, 4404 of which turned negative while 186 were positive. Results of 603 samples were awaited. The state has 146 active cases. 27 patients are cured and 13 have died including Padma Shri Hazoori ragi Nirmal Singh.

A petition related to the case of Tablighi Jamaat was filed in Supreme court of India. The petitioners alleged that a deliberate attempt was on to demonise the entire Muslim community for the event but the Supreme court on Monday refused to pass any gag order on media and declined to entertain the plea.

“We cannot curb the freedom of the press. We cannot pass interim directions,” Chief Justice SA Bobde had told the petitioner Jamait Ulama-I-Hind.