24 of 25 Assam cases linked to Markaz
■ Sarma: Many of them still hiding, not cooperating
With detection of four out of five new cases linked to Nizamuddin Markaz congregation of Tablighi Jamaat, Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday said that people associated with the Jamaat in the state are not cooperating in identifying the people who had attended the congregation in Delhi.
Pointing out that out of 25 Covid-19 positive cases in Assam, 24 had travelled visit the Markaz, the minister said, “We got a list of nearly 488 people from central government but locally we have traced and
Himanta Biswa Sarma
tested sample of 812 people who attended Tablighi Jamaat event so far. We are still getting information about the people who attended the congregation but they are not coming forth for getting themselves tested.”
Fearing that those attended the Jamaat event are most likely to get the infection, the minister said that their attempt to persuade the district and state-level leaders of the Jamaat for help in identifying people who went to its congregation has not yielded any encouraging response so far.
He said, “At Tablighi Jamaat Markaz, people from one state go to other states for religious purpose. Accordingly, these people had come on March 21 and 22. Such people usually stay in mosques and from there, they move to villages for propagating their religion. We are afraid that those who are hiding may turn out to be silent carriers.”
The minister said that the state has 24 positive cases and they are being looked after very well at isolation centre.
“Many of the positive cases have responded very well to the medicine and we are expecting that most of those who are in our isolation centre would come out soon,” said the minister, warning that if people who attended Nizamuddin congregation continue to evade their appeal, the state may be compelled to take tough measure in the larger interest of the people.
The minister said that there was only one positive case Manish Tibrewal that was not linked to Nizamuddin.