The Telangana government has initiated damage control measures after it emerged that major transmission of COVID-19 cases in the state took place through the people who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat religious congregation in Delhi two weeks ago.
While around 600 individuals have been located in Hyderabad city itself, the government is finding it difficult to trace many people due to incomplete addresses.
On Tuesday, the state government set up 200 special teams in Hyderabad to follow up with 603 persons who have been located within the purview of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC).
The teams are shifting the people displaying symptoms of COVID-19. They are also ensuring that family members of the Delhi-returnees are properly quarantined at their homes.
The teams comprising police, municipal, medical and revenue department officials visited the different areas of the city, in which the identified persons live.
GHMC commissioner G S Somesh Kumar said, " Zonal commissioners are monitoring the situation on the spot and taking necessary action."
The teams visited the residences of 463 persons and checked for people with COVID-19 symptoms. Of this, 74 persons with health issues or symptoms of COVID-19 were identified and shifted to the Gandhi Hospital.
While 348 persons were put under home quarantine, 41 persons were admitteiand to government quarantine facilities.
The teams are also enquiring about several of the addresses which were found to be inadequate.
In all, 1,030 people from Telangana are estimated to have travelled to Delhi for the Tablighi Jamaat convention held from March 13-15.
A majority of the people found COVID-19 positive in Telangana and neighbouring Andhra Pradesh had also travelled for the event.
Six coronavirus patients who attended the meeting between March 13 and 15 died due to the disease in the state ,the government said in a release on Monday. Two of the six died in Gandhi Hospital and one each in two different private hospitals in Hyderabad and one each in Nizamabad and Gadwal towns.
Till Monday night, Telangana reported 77 coronavirus positive cases,of which 14 have been discharged.
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With IANS and PTI inputs