SARGODHA: Two groups of Tableeghi Jamaat were quarantined in Khushab district after one member of each tested positive for Covid-19 on Sunday.

As per sources, 35 members of a Tableeghi Jamaat group were quarantined at Quaidabad after one of the preachers aged 22 belonging to Khyber Pakhtunkhwah tested positive for the virus.

Similarly, another group comprising 15 preachers was quarantined at Peelo Vance village in Khushab district after one of its members belonging to Pakpattan, aged 50, tested positive for Covid-19.

Meanwhile, the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases at the Sargodha District Headquarters Hospital rose to has increased to 23 and most of them have reportedly no foreign travel history.

On Sunday, the local administration quarantined residents of 80 houses in the People’s Colony here after a couple residing in the locality tested positive for the virus.

After surfacing of these two positive cases, the administration also quarantined the residents of adjoining Factory Area locality in their houses.

These quarantined residents would be provided food with the help of local philanthropists while the suspected cases would also be screened for coronavirus, sources in administration said.

Meanwhile, residents of adjoining localities have expressed their concern over setting up a quarantine centre at the Government Technical Institute, saying that as it was located in the heart of a densely populated area, it poses a risk to the population.

The demanded the centre should be shifted to some building on outskirts of the city.

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2020