ISLAMABAD: Government has launched a massive hunt to track down Tableeghi Jamaat followers who attended Raiwind Ijtima, a large religious congregation in suburban area of Lahore that held last month and then people who attended it scattered across the country.
Of the thousands who attended the Tableeghi Jamaat five-day Ijtima, several later tested positive for coronavirus. Authorities are now on the lookout for the rest of the attendees to screen and test them.
41 people at the Tableeghi Markaz in Raiwind alone have tested positive till now and figure will go very high, It is imperative to check the matter as soon as possible, a government functionary said, adding that there are chances that the [eople with COVID-19 symptoms will be very high.
To trace the men, 5,200 teams consisting of eight members, have been spread out across the country to comb through mosques.
According to an estimate about 5,000 people who attended the Ijtima were foreigners from more than 26 countries, a source said, adding that ,ost of them (foreigners) have already returned to their homelands.
The Tableeghi Ijtima held in March 10-15 despite warnings from the Punjab Government to call it off in the wake of the pandemic. However, attendees still gathered at the Raiwind complex for two days before the event was called off, an official explained.
In Sindh, the test results of 221 Tableeghi Jamaat followers have arrived, with 94 testing positive, provincial government spokesperson, Senator Murtaza Wahab said, adding that the results of as many as 15 are still pending.
At least 453 foreigners who arrived in the Sindh province to attend the congregation in Lahore are being kept in isolation centers across the province, official data revealed.
The foreigners from China, Indonesia, Tunis, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Turkey, and other countries are being quarantined in mosques in Sukkur and Hyderabad.
In Punjab, some 296 foreigners have been put in quarantine centers in Lahore, 10 in Sheikhupura, 45 in Gujranwala, 23 in Sargodha, 17 in Faisalabad, 41 in Multan, and 21 in Dera Ghazi Khan. Five women from Nigeria are being quarantined in Kasur.
In total, 8,000 Jamaat’s followers are being quarantined in Punjab while some 2,300 Tableeghi Jamaat followers are in various wards in Lahore, Pinjab Government officials said.
At least 17 positive cases recorded in Islamabad were members of the Tableeghi Jamaat, including six who were from Kyrgyzstan and two Palestinian nationals.
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