3 Tablighi event returnees test positive in Puducherry

Three people, who attended the Tablighi Jamat event in Delhi, tested positive for coronavirus here on Wednesday, officials said. This has raised the number of patients testing positive in Puducherry to three as already two patients had tested positive earlier in the day.

They were among the six returnees from Puducherry who had participated in the religious congregation in Delhi recently.

This patient who tested positive raising the number to three hailed from neighbouring Tiruvandarkoil village, the Director of Health and Family Welfare services S Mohan Kumar said.

The patient was first admitted to a private medical college and was shifted to the Indira Gandhi government Medical college hospital and the blood samples were tested in JIPMER.

The other patients were under observation, the official said.

Chief Minister V Narayanasamy appealed to all those who took part in the religious meet from the union territory to volunteer themselves for screening.

A total of 21 people -- 17 from Puducherry and four from Karaikal -- had attended the congregation in Nizamuddin area last month, and only nine had returned to the Union Territory, he said adding three of them, tested positive for COVID-19.

The Swarnam Nagar locality here where the two of the three infected persons resided was cordoned by officials.

Earlier, Puducherry's first positive case was reported from Mahe, an enclave of the union territory in Kerala. The woman had, however, has since recovered.

Director of Health and Family Welfare Mohan Kumar said the two of them were admitted to the government hospital here and tests of their blood samples done in JIPMER, a premier health institute, returned positive for the virus.

The four others were under observation in government and private hospitals here.

Three people who returned to Karaikal had been admitted to the isolation ward in the government hospital there and their blood samples had been sent for testing in neighbouring Tiruvarur Government Medical college hospital, Narayanasamy said.

He said the officials of the Departments of Health and Police had been collecting details about the people who had been in contact with those who returned after attending the religious event in the national capital.

The Chief Minister said there could be more people who had returned to Puducherry.

"I request all those who returned to Union Territory to voluntarily disclose the particulars and turn up for medical tests so that the spread of the virus could be arrested promptly," he said.

The Tabligh-e-Jamaat's Markaz in Delhi's Nizamuddin West has emerged as a hotspot of coronavirus as 24 people have tested positive for COVID-19 following which a major area has been sealed and an FIR lodged against its cleric for violating government order.