In a late evening operation, Bengaluru authorities picked up 10 Indonesians and 9 Kyrgyzstan officials who attended the Tablighi Jamaat Congregation in the second week of March. They were found hiding in a city mosque situated along the Mysore road.
With each passing day, the Tablighi Jamaat congregation is turning out to be the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak in the country. 10 attendees have already lost their life due to the disease. There has also been scrutiny on the negligence of the heads of the Tablighi Jamaat who went onto conduct the event with a massive crowd amid the outbreak. However, there is also criticism towards both the Delhi government and the central government as this event was allowed to happen under their nose.
Ever since the Telangana government alerted the country about the possibility of the congregation being the hotspot of the outbreak, the authorities of various state governments are hunting for the attendees of the event in order to isolate them. As per the reports, there were at least 3,000 people who have attended the event.
19 Foreign Attendees Picked up
The Karnataka government picked up 19 foreign nationals – 10 from Indonesia and 9 from Kyrgyzstan – from a local mosque where they are believed to be hiding since the 16th of March. For over two weeks they are apparently surviving only on bread.
The foreigners are believed to have arrived in the city on the 13th of March after fleeing the national capital. According to the unnamed source who is a part of the tracking operation, after receiving information about the 19 foreigners, the city’s health officials were sent to the mosque. The three-floor mosque housed Indonesians on the first floor, Krygyztanis in the second and 12 Keralites on the third floor.
Health officials feared a law and order situation but after speaking to the cleric of the mosque, he allowed them to evacuate the people and shift them to quarantine facilities. Initially, there were communication problems with the foreign nationals who feared for their safety but later they were convinced and taken into confidence. They were successfully shifted to quarantine centers.
