Assam Masjid Declared COVID-19 Contaminated Zone, State Health Minister Blames Jamaat for Corona Outbreak

Guwahati : The Assam government has sealed a mosque in Guwahati where three people stayed last month to attend a religious function and later confirmed corona positive. This information was given by Health Minister Hemant Biswa Sarma on Friday. Sarma told in a press conference here that two of them had returned to Assam after attending the Tablighi Jamaat program in Nizamuddin area of Delhi. The third one stayed with them in the Athagaon Cemetery Mosque and went to Dhubri with one of them.

Sarma blamed the Jamaat for the outbreak of the Coronavirus, saying that 28 of the 29 infected cases in Assam were linked to the jamaatis. He said that the person who first died of coronavirus in the state on Friday had also participated in the Jamaat program in Delhi after returning from Saudi Arabia.

A hundred people took part in the mosque meeting held on March 12 and the organizers have so far given the names of 58 people and all of them have been kept in a separate residence. “Much later it was brought to our notice that the event took place and we have asked the organizers to provide a list of all the people who attended it,” he said.

He said that the mosque has been sealed and declared an infected area and no one is allowed to enter or leave. The administration will provide essential goods to the caretakers of the mosque and other office bearers inside the mosque. The government is considering filing an FIR against one of the three persons because it hid the fact that they were involved in Tablighi Jamaat program.