Telangana Was The First To Alert The Centre About Markaz Scare: Etela

Hyderabad: Health Minister Etela Rajender said that Telangana was the first to have raised a red flag and alerted the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare about the implication of the religious congregation at Markaz, Nizamuddin in New Delhi.

“Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao was the first to demand a ban on all international and domestic flights. Even before other States, Telangana was the first state to announce a lockdown. We were the first to alert the centre about the Markaz meeting and its implications to New Delhi as well,” Rajender said here on Wednesday.

Stating that nearly 160 persons who participated in the religious congregation in New Delhi were yet to be located, Rajender said the government so far had information that over 1030 persons from Telangana participated in the meeting.

“Barring the 160 missing persons, we have managed to locate the rest of the people. In fact, all of them are in various Government hospitals and are undergoing tests," he added.

The minister maintained that there was little evidence of community transmission in Telangana and said the COVID-19 patients who had recently recovered and were discharged would continue to remain under home quarantine for the next 14 days.