Chinese preacher tested positive for coronavirus

KARACHI: A Chinese national associated with the Tablighi Jamaat reportedly tested positive for coronavirus in Hyderabad, sources told The News.

The Chinese national and another compatriot were among over 200 preachers deployed at the Noor Masjid in Wahdat Colony of Hyderabad, said Javed Nayab Leghari, Special Assistant to the Sindh chief minister.

The Chinese nationals and his associates were kept in isolation in the same mosque by the district management.

However, Dr Naeem Mustafa Memon of the Civil Hospital Hyderabad, focal person for coronavirus, said it could not be established at this stage if the Chinese national was a confirmed coronavirus patient.

“He is under observation and the final reports would determine whether he is positive or negative,” said Dr. Memon.

Sources in the district management claimed that the said Chinese Muslim citizen was in Pakistan on a visit visa and joined the Tablighi Jamaat after attending the annual congregation of Tablighi Jamaat at Raiwind, Lahore.

He fell ill and was initially referred to a local hospital in Hyderabad from where he was transferred to the Civil Hospital, Hyderabad where he was confirmed corona positive.

He was shifted to the hospital’s isolation ward. Tests of his associates are underway. All would be kept in isolation until the final reports, a district administration officer confided to this correspondent. On the other-hand, an under trial, identified as Ali Raza Tewno, was shifted to the Hyderabad Civil Hospital for possible infection. His shifting to hospital has panicked the other inmates.

According to official documents, including the medical certificate of Ali Raza available with this reporter, he was arrested by the Jamshoro police on the charge of drug-peddling and was shifted to the Hyderabad Central Jail on judicial remand on March 21.

Ali was shifted to the Hyderabad Central Jail after the Chief Causality Medical Officer (CMO) of Liaquat University Hospital, Jamshoro issued a certificate on March 21 confirming that he had not been affected by the coronavirus. Official documents further suggested that on March 27, a medical team constituted by the Sindh Health Department visited the Hyderabad Central Jail and screened all prisoners.

Ali was found a suspected patient [of COVID-19] and was shifted to the Liaquat University Hospital for further screening and quarantine. Talking to this reporter, IG Sindh Prisons Nusrat Mangan said all prisoners in the provincial jails had been duly checked by the Sindh Health Department. He said the jail department was very much vigilant following the directions of Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Shah and Advisor Aijaz Jakhrani.