LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh government has suggested that the lockdown in the state may continue after April 14 in the wake of the rising number of coronavirus cases related to Tablighi Jamaat members. The state tally of COVID-19 patients has crossed the 300 mark with 27 fresh cases including a two-year-old child testing positive for the deadly virus in UP on Monday. Of these, 21 were Jamatis.
“The lockdown will not be removed if even a single person with the coronavirus is found in the state,” said Additional Chief Secretary, Home Awanish Awasthi while talking to the media. Moreover, chief secretary RK Tiwari also expressed the same view saying the lockdown imposed in Uttar Pradesh in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak may be extended if the situation didn’t improve after April 14.
“The chief minister is continuously monitoring the situation. Today is April 6 and there is almost a week to go for the lockdown to end. A decision will be taken on the situation then. In the last few days, most of the positive cases are related to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation and more than half the positive cases from the state are also of people linked to the event,” Tiwari said.
Awasthi said that as the members of Tablighi Jamaat account for more than 50 per cent of the total state tally and the process to track them down was still on, the state government had yet to take a decision on withdrawal of the lockdown. Of the 305 coronavirus positive cases reported in the state so far, 159 are members of the Tablighi Jamaat. Thus every second COVID-19 patient in the state is either a Jamaati to have attended the Markaz at Nizamuddin or his contact, said principal secretary, health and family welfare, Amit Mohan Prasad.
Meanwhile, the ACS claimed that over 1500 persons with Tablighi Jamaat connections were tracked down in the state so far. “Of those, over 1200 have been quarantined,” said Awasthi. At present over 30 districts of the state are in the grip of the coronavirus.
The ACS claimed that the authorities were tracking the Jamaatis and their possible contacts on three levels simultaneously. He said the situation was volatile in a number of districts as Jamaatis were not coming out on their own to reveal their identity. Maximum number of infected Jamaatis has emerged in Agra, followed by Meerut, Saharanpur, Azamgarh, Lucknow, Barabanki, Shamli and Ghaziabad.
29 localities across eight districts including Lucknow, Varanasi, Pratapgarh, GB Nagar, Ghazipur, Azamgarh, Kanpur and Kheri have been sealed after jamaatis who had come from different places and were staying at different mosques in these districts tested positive for the virus. As many as 10 localities in Rae Bareli district were sealed after two Jamaatis, who returned from Delhi, tested positive for the deadly virus.