Assam's First COVID-19 Patient Visited Delhi's Nizamuddin, Avoided Tests

Assam is in a state of high alert after the first coronavirus positive case in the state emerged on Tuesday. A 52-year-old cleric, who runs a madrassa in Karimganj district, 300 kilometres from Guwahati, had recently travelled to Delhi where he visited Jama Masjid and Nizamuddin area, where a large religious gathering has emerged as a coronavirus hotspot with links to seven COVID-19 deaths, official sources said. The man, however, did not attend the religious event at Nizamuddin.

The cleric, who is also diabetic and a cancer patient, is undergoing treatment at the Silchar Medical College and is said to be stable. He was admitted on Sunday night with fever and cough.

Locals say the man first fell ill about two weeks ago and went to the local primary health centre. Being a cancer patient, he was then asked to visit a cancer hospital. The next day, he visited a private cancer hospital in Silchar, where looking at his symptoms, the doctors asked him to undergo a COVID-19 test at Silchar Medical College. The man, however, returned home and started self-medicating until his condition deteriorated, sources added.

The man had travelled from Guwahati to Delhi on March 5 and stayed at a hotel in the national capital. "He went to Jama Masjid and had contact with people in Nizamuddin. He returned to Guwahati on March 10 and stayed at the house of a relative. He reached his place in Karimganj's Badarpur on March 13 by Rajdhani Express," said Dr BK Bezbaruah, the Principal of Silchar Medical College and Hospital.

Sources say the cleric's two sons had also accompanied him to Delhi. All six members of their family have been quarantined.

"We are trying to dig more into his travel history. Contact tracing is going on and Railways have been informed. We need to check each and every person he came in contact with," Karimganj Deputy Commissioner MP Anbamuthan told NDTV.

While in Guwahati, the 52-year-old had also offered namaz at a prominent city mosque, official sources said.

"We are looking at all aspects in his case, since people were already aware of the coronavirus alert by the time he reached back," Mr Anbamuthan said.

The Assam government is looking for nearly 500 people who attended the religious event held in Delhi's Nizamuddin hosted by Tablighi Jamaat, which is now being considered a "hotbed" of the spread of coronavirus. More than a hundred people who attended the gathering have tested positive for coronavirus and a nationwide manhunt is on for suspected cases.

Nearly 1,900 people have been evacuated from "Markaz Nizamuddin", the Delhi headquarters of the Tablighi Jamaat group, since Sunday and at least 441 in Delhi have shown symptoms of the virus. In the middle of a national lockdown, hundreds of people had been staying at the facility for weeks. Over 1,100 are now quarantined in different parts of Delhi and lanes near the religious centre have been taped off by officials in hazmat suits.