GUWAHATI, April 4 - With 24 of the total 25 COVID-19 positive cases in the State turning out to be those who were associated with the Tablighi Jamaat congregation at Markaz Nizamuddin, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma today said �it was an evolving story� as the list of people who were at the religious meet was growing every day and the government not able to �cap it�.
Five new COVID-19 positive cases were reported since last night, taking the total to 25. Three of them had attended the Markaz event, one is the wife of a COVID-19 positive patient who had also visited Nizamuddin while the fifth is a resident of a housing complex at RG Baruah Road in Guwahati.
Those who tested positive since last night are Mofizuddin of Chayygaon, Jamia Khatun of Morigaon, Rahimuddin Ahmed of Golaghat, Babul Ali of Lakhimpur and Manish Tibrewal of Guwahati. All are under treatment in isolation units.
�Every day the list of people who attended the Markaz event is growing. We are being informed by different sources and the reports are turning out to be true. This is the last time I am pleading before all those who visited Nizamuddin to reveal themselves, else the government will have to be tough,� Sarma warned.
So far, the government has traced 812 such persons who either attended the Jamaat congregation or came in touch with such attendees and samples of all have been sent for tests. Of them 24 are positive, 636 negative and the results of the rest pending.
All these people have been put on quarantine for 14 days and the virus test conducted again after the period.
�They are not at all cooperating and not revealing themselves. We have asked the DCs and SPs to trace all such people,� the minister said.
Denying allegations that the government was not conducting enough tests, Sarma said so far 1,529 samples have been collected and sent to five labs for testing. Results of 1,308 are negative for COVID-19, while 196 samples are still under process.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal today visited the Haflong Civil Hospital, including its isolation ward, to take stock of its preparedness to fight against COVID-19 outbreak in the State.
