6 die of Covid-19 in Telangana, all linked to Nizamuddin prayer meeting

Hyderabad: The toll owing to the coronavirus Covid-19 in Telangana took a grim turn for the worse, with the state government announcing late Monday night that six persons have died from the infection at different hospitals in the city since Saturday.

A news release from the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) said all six patients, identified as Covid-19 positive, had attended a Markaz at a mosque in the Nizamuddin area of Old City of Delhi between March 13 and 15.

The CMO said two of these six patients died at Gandhi Hospital, one at Apollo Hospital, one at Global Hospital, one at Nizamabad and the sixth in Gadwal town.

Special teams were urgently pressed into action to isolate the families of the six victims and any possible contact the deceased patients might have had. All these contacts were being shifted to hospitals to be kept under isolation and then tested for the disease.

The health department also issued an urgent appeal to anyone who has any information on people who visited the event in Nizamuddin, or on those who were in contact with these individuals, to immediately inform the nearest health department or other government office so these persons can be identified, isolated and tested for the disease, and if need be, provided immediate treatment.

The department further said that it is understood that everyone who attended Markaz is believed to have contracted the disease. It is the public duty of everyone who attended the event to immediately report to the health department, which will provide free testing and treatment.

The possibility of the religious event at Markaz organized by Tablighi Jamaat as a hub for coronavirus transmission within the country, first came to light when 10 Indonesian preachers who came to Karimnagar after attending the event, earlier this month, tested positive for the disease.

Subsequently, one contact person of the preachers tested positive and on Monday, this person’s mother and sister too were tested positive. His entire family was shifted to Gandhi Hospital to be kept under observation and treatment.

It is learnt that the Central government health officials were in contact with state health department seeking details on how the state went about identifying contacts of the 10 Indonesians as well as the six others who have died from the disease.

Meanwhile, in New Delhi, authorities locked down portions of the Nizamuddin area and cordoned off those locations, including the mosque where the Markaz was held and shifted a few hundred people for testing for the disease.