7 Keralites linked to TJ found positive among 23 others in J&K

SRINAGAR: A group of seven Keralites associated with Tablighi Jamaat and nine locals tested positive for Covid-19 in

Kashmir Valley

on Friday. Of the nine locals, one was in contact with the Kerala group. Also, seven positive

cases

were reported from Jammu during the day, taking Friday’s number of such cases across J&K to 23.


With the addition of these 23 cases, J&K’s tally has gone up to 207, of which 168 were from the Valley, government spokesman Rohit Kansal said.

Government authorities have discovered that there are a total of 22 Tablighis among the Covid-19 positive patients in Kashmir.

Srinagar district development commissioner

Shahid Iqbal Chowdary

said: “This is a classic tracing success story. We found a group of seven non-local visitors (Keralites), acted fast and quarantined them. All of them tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday. The only local, who was in contact with them and who too tested positive, is from Srinagar.”

Later, Chowdary tweeted: “8 Covid +ve in Srinagar today sounds panicky, but it’s not. This is a classic tracing success story (sic).”

One of the Tablighis from Hyderpora, who had tested positive earlier, had passed away on March 25. This man had visited the Markaz at Nizamuddin in Delhi and also travelled to Andaman Nicobar, UP and Jammu.