Scramble to trace Delhi Covid-19 links ... 73 persons from Bengal were present in the gatherin

Pranesh Sarkar, TT, 1.04.20, Calcutta: The top brass of the Bengal government have engaged all its resources to locate 73 persons from the state who had attended a religious gathering in Delhi’s Nizamuddin as 24 participants in the congregation tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

Ten people who took part in the event held from March 13 to 15 have died from Covid-19.

“All those from WB who have participated in this event (Tabighi Jamaat in Delhi) are being identified and will be immediately tested for COVID and put under mandatory 14 days quarantine,” state home secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay tweeted on Tuesday.

Sources said the ministry of home affairs had informed that 73 persons from Bengal were present in the gathering.

A senior bureaucrat said the state was yet to identify all the 73.

“Some people are still staying in Delhi. We are yet to be clear about how many of them have come back to the state. We have identified some who came back and efforts are on to get a clearer picture about those who attended the programme from the state,” said a senior government official.

“Staring from intelligence network to political machinery, all have been engaged to identify the persons. It is expected that all of them will be identified soon and they would be sent for mandatory 14-day quarantine,” said another bureaucrat.

Sukumar Mukherjee, a member of the chief minister’s advisory committee on coronavirus, said the spread of the coronavirus was still in stage-II in the country as well as the state.