“We have been able to identify 1030 people who had participated in the Markaz organised by Jamaat and another 600-odd people who had come in contact with these Delhi returnees. Everybody is in quarantine and if all of them get cured, there will be no Coronavirus in Telangana,” he claimed.
But on Thursday, health minister Eatala Rajender admitted that not all the Markaz returnees were traced and they had transmitted the virus to many people in their localities. He made a fresh appeal to the Delhi returnees and their close contacts to self-report.
“There are indications that still a few persons who attended the Markaz meet and their contacts are missing. I am personally urging them to self-report so that they can be provided treatment facilities at the right time,” he said.
Nearly six families in which a few individuals had a travel history to Markaz, had managed to infect 81 persons in Hyderabad.
“There are instances wherein father and mother are positive but the children are not. Children cannot be separated from their parents and that’s why we have developed an exclusive ward for them and one for women at Gandhi Hospital,” he said.
The Health Minister indicated that intensity of Covid-19 is less in rural areas compared to urban parts of the State.
“We collected 400 samples from rural areas in the State out of which only six persons tested positive. When we picked up 800 samples from urban centres including Hyderabad, 50 persons tested positive,” the Minister pointed out.