Jagatsinghpur: Panic gripped residents of Jagatsinghpur as rumours suggested presence of members of Tablighi Jamaat in the district who returned from Delhi’s Nizamuddin Markaz – now known for high concentration of COVID-19 positive cases.
The district police received many calls amid palpable tension brewing at places over the issue. The police, however, quelled the rumours and urged people to not believe in them.
According to Jagatsinghpur SP Prakash R, not a single case of coronavirus has been reported in the district as yet.
“All the IICs have been asked to take help of locals and religious leaders to trace Nizamuddin returnees – if any. Besides, police are using their own sources to scour Muslims slums in the locality to find suspicious cases,” the SP added.
Notably, the state has identified 28 persons who returned from the religious congregation at Nizamuddin so far. One each in Cuttack, Puri and Jajpur have been tested positive.
Meanwhile, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik urged people to cooperate and help the administration in preventing the spread of coronavirus.
PNN