82 people from MP who attended Nizamuddin meet identified

Bhopal, Mar 31 (PTI) The Madhya Pradesh government has identified 82 of the 107 people from the state who attended a religious congregation at Nizamuddin in Delhi, that has become a key source for the COVID-19 spread in the country, and put some of them in quarantine, a top official said on Tuesday.

The gathering at Markaz Nizamuddin, the Delhi headquarters of the Tabligh-e-Jamaat, was held earlier this month. We have the addresses of 82 persons out of the 107 (from Madhya Pradesh) who attended the Tabligh-e-Jamaat's Markaz in Delhi. Some of them have been put in quarantine, the official said. Efforts are on to identify the remaining people and they would be traced soon, he said. However, the officer refused to divulge the exact number of people who have been quarantined.

Earlier in the day, Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had directed officials to quarantine over 100 people from the state who had participated in the congregation. The Delhi government on Tuesday said 24 people, who took part in the congregation, have tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

According to an official, Chouhan held a high-level meeting where he said that over 100 people from Madhya Pradesh had participated in the meet and arrangements should be made to quarantine them.

The Chief Minister has asked district collectors and superintendents of police to track down these people and keep a tab on pilgrims visiting places of worship, he said. People from across the country had taken part in the mega meet.

After the matter came to light, the Centre and the Delhi government swung into action to trace people who attended the congregation. Six people from Telangana and one from Jammu and Kashmir, who attended the event, died due to coronavirus.