HYDERABAD: A total of 70 Tableeghi Jamaat (TJ) members tested positive for coronavirus in Hyderabad and Karachi as test reports of 204 preachers were released on Tuesday. With the fresh confirmed cases of the virus, the overall tally of such cases tested in Hyderabad and Karachi went up to 130.

The 204 samples were collected on Sunday from Noor Masjid. Of them, 23 had already been confirmed to have infected by the virus within the last 24 hours. The tests were conducted at Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK) and Diagnostic and Research Laboratory (DRL) of the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences (LUMHS).

Sindh health department spokesperson Meeran Yusuf confirmed on Tuesday while talking to Dawn that 105 cases were tested at Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK) and of them 63 turned out to be positive on Monday. Earlier, 30 out of 99 suspected patients had tested positive at LUMHS on Monday evening.

With 93 positive cases emerging from Noor Masjid, the place proved to be the single largest contributor to the tally of Covid-19 cases.

Tests of seven TJ members from Tandojam whose samples were collected at Kohsar quarantine facility in Latifabad turned out to be positive at the DRL on Tuesday.

Out of 130 confirmed cases reported from Hyderabad, 98 are from Noor Masjid alone and they include a Chinese national; 24 from Trauma Centre, some directly reported at the DRL and Kohsar Hospital (this includes the medical superintendent of the hospital; eight TJ men from Tandojam and a sanitary worker of the hospital), five Hyderabad natives and three non-Hyderabad residents. The three non-natives have since left for Karachi. One coronavirus-positive patient is in a private hospital of Karachi and one woman has already been discharged.

Of these 130 confirmed cases, a woman has recovered and been discharged from isolation ward of the Liaquat University Hospital (LUH). Eight patients are admitted in LUH’s isolation ward, six of them are from areas other than Hyderabad. Only two patients are residents of the city.

Initially, 96 TJ men were taken to Labour Colony flats — the single largest quarantine facility on Tando Mohammad Khan-Hyderabad Road — as suspected patients. But after tests of 16 were found to be positive, these 16 patients were shifted to Rajputana Hospital where rooms are being used as isolation centre.

Later, they were brought back to Kohsar Latifabad hospital and kept with eight already admitted suspected patients. TJ’s 88 suspected patients are kept in Labour Colony flats. The remaining positive cases are kept in isolation centres of LUH and Rajputana Hospital.

Fear grips residential areas around quarantine facility

The Kohsar Hospital quarantine facility Latifabad was on Tuesday declared another isolation centre by the district administration amidst serious concerns expressed by the local population after its medical superintendent and a sanitary worker tested positive.

The hospital is located in a thickly populated locality of Latifabad. And now it has a total number of 24 coronavirus-positive cases.

Neither Sindh government’s focal personal for coronavirus situation Sharjeel Memon, nor the commissioner or deputy commissioner Hyderabad were available for comments.

Kohsar Hospital is a normal general hospital which the administration has started using as a quarantine facility. On Tuesday, test results of 10 patients — the MS, sanitary worker and eight Tableeghi Jamaat members — kept there in quarantine were tested positive.

“Why the hospital is being used as an isolation centre? It should not even be used as a quarantine facility given its location, ie in the midst of a huge population,” reacted an angry resident from the area. He said that when 1,500 flats located on Tando Mohammad Khan Road were ready to serve as quarantine centre then what was the reason for converting Kohsar Hospital to a fully fledged isolation ward.

“We all are at risk now as hospital staff had been treating positive cases and suspected patients at the same place under one roof. Staff members are coming in and going out of the hospital with risk which is a direct threat of spread of coronavirus,” said another resident.

The administration has also planned conversion of a charitable hospital on Domanwah Road to a quarantine facility. This hospital is also located in a densely populated area surrounded by Wadhon Ka Pir, Cloth Market, Nishat Chowk, Liaquat Colony and Bhains Piri.

A group of angry residents gathered outside the charitable hospital to protest against the administration’s decision. Police arrived there making the protesters disperse.

The administration has listed a few hotels and a private hospital to use as quarantine areas although rooms in the Sindh Sports Board hostel outside Niaz Stadium, Hyderabad Club which is lying closed and flats of a commercial project on bypass road are available and suitable for the purpose.

Published in Dawn, April 1st, 2020