The Punjab police put Raiwind city put under quarantine on Tuesday and shut down all general and medical stores, while no one is being allowed to leave their homes. Even now more than 2,200 people of the tableeghi jamaat are present in the gathering, police said.
Adjacent to Raiwind city is a tableeghi mosque where it was suspected that 50 people have contracted the virus. Upon screening, it was discovered that 27 do have the virus.
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Many people have either been shifted to the Kala Shah Kaku quarantine facility or a quarantine facility in Kasur.
A team of doctors is currently continuing testing of people to ascertain whether there are more people infected.
Coronavirus updates in Pakistan
Pakistan witnessed a sudden rise in the number of deaths due to the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, as one more man died, taking death toll to 26 across the country.
According to media reports, the number of confirmed coronavirus-infected people in the country rose to 2042. So far, 82 patients have recovered.
676 patients have been tested positive for the epidemic in Sindh, 158 in Balochistan, 708 in Punjab, 253 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 184 in Gilgit-Baltistan, 54 in Islamabad and six in Azad Kashmir.
Tableeghi jamaat members put under quarantine in Sindh
Inspector-General Sindh Police Mushtaq Mahar issued directives for Sindh Police to quarantine tableeghi jamaat members wherever they find them in the province.
He said that police officials should collect information about tableeghi jamaat centres and members of their respective areas. Mahar said that that police should ensure that tableeghi jamaat members are provided food rations and it should be ensured that new persons do not join them.
He directed superintendents of police to work with health officials to ensure the virus is contained and prevented from spreading further.
As many as 550 members of Tableeghi Jamaat including 26 foreigners from Indonesia, Tunis, Nigeria, Afghanistan, China and other countries were quarantined in Sukkur and Hyderabad mosques after one confirmed coronavirus case was reported in Hyderabad among one of their colleagues A March 30 report said a young Chinese national, Mubbashir, aged 30 and part of the tableeghi jamaat, arrived at a mosque named Noor Masjid in Qasimabad area of Hyderabad from Raiwind and tested positive for coronavirus. He was shifted to the quarantine centre of Civil Hospital, Hyderabad.