40 Mumbai preachers isolated, search on for 110 more

After launching a massive manhunt for more than 150 members of the Tablighi Jamaat who returned from the Markaz Nizamuddin congregation the Mumbai police traced over 40 till Wednesday and sent them into selfquarantine Some of these came forward with the help of community leaders and selfquarantined themselvesTheirsamples are being tested for Coronavirus The hunt was launched on Monday after the Special Branch received their details The attendees are suspected to have come in contact with COVID19 patients at the MarkazAccording to sources the Mumbai police commissioner called a highlevel meeting on Wednesday and instructed the force to trace everyone on the list The list has details of over 150 people 45 of them are foreign nationals from different countries They returned to the city after attending the congregation at Markaz Nizamuddin in the middle of March The priority is to locate and quarantine all of them a senior official told middayPolice personnel conduct a search operation for attendees in Delhis Nizamuddin area in the city of Prayagraj on Wednesday PicPTIPolice teams have been deployed at several locations across Mumbai especially at places which have a large presence of Tablighi Jamaat Members The Jamaats Mumbai headquarters is at Mohammed Ali Road known as Chunabhatti Markaz Masjid which decided the movement of Tablighi Jamaat after they arrived from Nizamuddin Apart from Chunabhatti Markaz centre the Jamaat has other centres at Kurla Pipe Road near Khar railway station and in Jogeshwari BMC officials too have been deployed at these locationsThese centres decide the movement of preachers who arrive from different countries and from other states and cities within India Those arriving from outside India stay for four months or forty days They visit different parts of the country and stay in different mosques Their stay is wellorganised by the management an Islamic preacher told middayThe police have reached out to religious leaders of the community for the exercise We are making all attempts to trace them and avoid the further spread of Coronavirus the officer added Hundreds of Tablighi Jamaat members have also been traced in MaharashtraThe police remained tightlipped about the exact number of attendees in Mumbai We cannot reveal the number of people as of now The priority is to locate everyone who came from the Markaz and those who came in contact with these people our teams are working on it and all will be traced soon a senior IPS officer saidThe Navi Mumbai police commissionerate on the other hand was given a list of 34 people including attendees and those who came in contact with them Out of these 10 have come forward and are cooperating with the police All are in selfquarantine and their samples have been takenThe Thane Police traced more than 15 of the 24 people by Wednesday and sent them into selfquarantineAround 10 people in Telangana and Jammu and Kashmir JampK who had attended the event at Nizamuddin New Delhi have died after contracting the virus More than 300 have been quarantined while several hundred are being traced by authorities to contain the spread of the infection Over 128 positive cases with links to the event have been identifiedNo of attendees in other Maharashtra cities Ahmednagar Of the 45 people traced 29 are foreign nationals from Indonesia Malaysia Ghana and South Africa Pune 30 attendees from Nizamuddin Markaz traced in Pune all quarantined Pune rural 18 Indian attendees traced Nashik rural 10 attendees trace and quarantinedCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates