While people are avoiding crowded places amid the nationwide lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, hordes of people had recently attended prayer gatherings organised by the Tablighi Jamaat.
The event was held at Nizamuddin Markaz mosque located in Nizamuddin West in South Delhi, India. It has been learnt that several people came from Malaysia, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Kyrgyzstan to attend the event.
At a time when the rest of the world is avoiding leaving home in the current outbreak of coronavirus, hundreds of People are gathering at the Mosque to perform Namaz. They are organizing the event despite knowing the fact that India, at the moment, is under complete shutdown to check the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak.
According to reports, as many as 1548 people were present at the gathering, 24 of them have been tested positive for COVID-19 and 441 of them were symptomatic. They have been shifted to hospitals and their tests are being conducted. 1,107 who did not show symptoms have been sent to quarantine.
Upon receiving information about the alleged gathering at Markaz Mosque, a police team reached the spot and took them to a quarantine facility from the Nizamuddin area of New Delhi.
Soon the entire Nizamuddin area was cordoned off by Delhi police, and they are monitoring the movement of the people using drones, a senior police officer said. An audio clip went leaked in which Tablighi Jamaat chief Maulana Saad can reportedly be heard instructing followers to not abide by coronavirus closedown rules.
There may have been negligence of the Delhi government with respect to this case. However, the Delhi government has written to Lieutenant Governor for registration of FIR in this case.
“A group of 30 people was taken for testing two days ago at a Delhi government hospital, and seven of them had tested positive. Since it is a densely populated area, it was decided that people should be taken for testing in batches,” an official of the Union health ministry told ThePrint.
“They are being taken in batches. Today, a large group was taken, and more will be taken for testing eventually,” the official said.
The Delhi Police have sealed the entire area to avoid any kind of risk. A senior police officer said: “We cannot allow any person from that area to come out, as they may infect others. They have been quarantined.”
When the coronavirus pandemic is already raging across the world, several people from a certain community are frequently breaking the coronavirus shutdown rules in India. Don’t they understand that their negligence may put their entire family at risk?
They are taking this deadly disease for granted. If they continue to offer prayer (Namaz) at Mosque, they may put the entire country at risk as COVID-19 is the fastest spreading disease the world has ever witnessed. This will be disastrous in India if they keep on spreading infection from one person to another.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already urged all Indian citizens to avoid social gatherings as part of precautionary measures to contain coronavirus outbreak, but several people are constantly attending the event and performing prayer at Masjid. They are adamant that they will continue to do Salah in the crowd.
India is currently in stage 2 of the COVID 19 pandemic, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research whereas Italy is in stage 3. The government is making all necessary efforts to bring stage 2 under control and wants to make sure that India will not become another Italy. To combat the deadly disease, the government has appealed to all citizens to maintain social distancing or else the time is not far off when India will see thousands of deaths due to coronavirus.
