Eight women from K-P quarantined in Matiari seminary

Though district focal person claims tests are available, none of the 61 suspected patients have been tested

HYDERABAD/ KARACHI: At least eight women from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), all members of Tableeghi Jamaat, have been quarantined at a seminary in Matiari district, confirmed health department officials while talking to The Express Tribune on Friday.

The information was corroborated by the district's focal person, Zaheeruddin Memon, as well. "They have been placed [under quarantine] at a madrassa," he said. "[But] all of them are fine… and, along with other members of the Tableeghi Jamaat, will be sent back to K-P after the completion of the quarantine period."

Health department officials, however, said that they had received no guidelines for dealing with patients who had completed their quarantine. "We will have to make them stay at the same madrassa until we receive further instructions," they said.



According to area resident Saifullah Jamali, though, some of those placed in quarantine had already visited Tando Jam and surrounding areas earlier. "They were quarantined here after law enforcement agencies and health department officials were alerted following the emergence of positive cases in other districts," he said.

As of now, the number of persons suspected of having contracted the novel coronavirus in Matiari is 61, including 36 residents of the district and 25 people from other provinces. However, according to health department officials, the majority of those placed under quarantine in the district did not show any symptoms of COVID-19.

All of the suspected patients have been quarantined at either mosques or madrassas while at least three mosques, including two in Saeedabad and one in Bhit Shah, have been sealed. Meanwhile, police and Rangers have been deployed outside mosques and seminaries in Matiari.

No tests conducted

Interestingly, not a single person in the district has been tested for the infectious disease. Insisting that this was not because of the unavailability of testing kits, Memon justified the lack of testing by saying, "None of the people [placed in quarantine] showed any symptoms."



However, a health official, speaking to The Express Tribune, claimed that suspected patients would be tested starting today (Saturday).

"We have informed the authorities of the issue and as many suspected cases have tested positive in other districts, we understand that they need to be tested [here] on an immediate basis too," he said. He expressed the belief that more people would soon be placed under quarantine as well, pointing out that many of the suspected patients had come in contact with multitudes of people in the district.

Temporary quarantine centres

With the recent surge in coronavirus cases among Tableeghi Jamaat members in Sindh, a number of mosques and seminaries in the province have been turned into temporary quarantine centres.

In addition to some worshippers at Hyderabad's Noor Mosque, another 69 members of these groups have been quarantined in three mosques and a bungalow in the city, while 110 more have been housed in Labour Colony apartments. There are around 300 people staying at the Labour Colony facilities in Hyderabad.

In Nawabshah, a health department team took samples of 17 people among roughly 200 people at the Usmania seminary. Out of those tested, six people - including four foreigners and a person from Punjab - had COVID-19. Another five people were tested at a seminary in Daur taluka, where 59 people are staying.

In Dadu's Mehar taluka, local police shifted 11 people from the town's Laraib Mosque to Madni Mosque in Abdullah Town, far from the main residential areas. Mehar SHO Noor Mustafa Pathan said that the police had been informed that they had hidden in a truck to get to Mehar. Another group of 25 people are quarantined at a mosque in Fareedabad as well.

Meanwhile, in Moro taluka, Naushero Feroze district, authorities quarantined 26 people at a mosque in Muhammad Ibrahim village and a seminary on the Dadu-Moro road. Health department officials collected samples of all 26 people, who had recently travelled to Raiwind, Punjab.

Jamshoro's district administration, too, has isolated dozens of people in mosques in Kotri, while 11 asymptomatic people have been accommodated at a Sindh University hostel.

In Naukot taluka, as well, 46 people have been quarantined in four mosques. Area residents, fearful of contracting coronavirus, have reportedly stopped going to mosques where outsiders are staying.