Five more persons, who returned to Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh from the recent Nizamuddin congregation in West Delhi tested COVID-19 positive on Thursday.
Three such persons, who did not disclose their travel history to Nizamuddin congregation despite government's repeated appeals tested positive in western Assam's Goalpara district on Thursday, taking the state's total number of COVID-19 positive cases to 16 so far. Thirteen others, who also similarly returned from Tablighi Jamaat congregation were tested positive since Tuesday.
A 65-year-old man from Manipur, who had also attended the religious congregation tested positive on Wednesday night. He is admitted to the isolation ward of Regional Institute Medical Sciences, Imphal. At least 10 others also attended the congregation and the state government is trying to locate those persons for tests and quarantine. This was Manipur's second COVID-19 positive case. Earlier, a 23-year-old girl, who returned from London also tested positive.
Arunachal Pradesh reported its first COVID-19 positive case after a man from Lohit district tested positive. He also returned from the Nizamuddin event, officials said.
Mizoram had earlier reported one positive case. Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Tripura have not reported any COVID-19 positive cases so far.
Assam and rest of the Northeast managed to stem the outbreak till Monday but the Nizamuddin incident suddenly turned the table. Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told reporters here that samples of 951 persons were tested so far and reports of 98 persons were still awaited. "We are trying to locate those who returned from Nizamuddin congregation but went into hiding and carry out tests and quarantine them. We again appeal to all of them to voluntarily come forward for tests," he said.