GUWAHATI: Activist Sharjeel Imam, who has been lodged at the Central Jail in Guwahati since February 20 for seditious statements, has tested positive for Covid-19.
According to jail officials, the report of his swab samples test confirmed he was a Covid-19 positive but asymptomatic. He was shifted to an isolated ward of the jail. The ward has been turned into a Covid-19 hospital for the asymptomatic inmates.
Jail inmates, who show symptoms of the disease, are shifted to hospitals, including the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital. Till Tuesday morning, 435 inmates of the Guwahati jail had tested positive.
After Imam tested positive, a Delhi Police team that arrived on July 17 to take him back to the national capital shelved its plan, for now.
A former student of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Imam was booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for his alleged inflammatory speech in the wake of the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.