Covid-19: Army takes over day-time management of Delhi quarantine centre which houses Jamaat members

A team of 40 Indian Army personel, including doctors and paramedics, has taken over the management of quarantine facility in Narela which currently houses 932 members linked to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi’s Nizamuddin area last month.

The Army has taken the initiative to manage the facility from 8 am to 8 pm relieving the Delhi government doctors and medical staff who are now managing the facility only during the night, the Army said in a statement on Sunday. The Army took day-time charge of the facility, one of the largest in the country for handling Covid-19 suspected cases, on April 16, the statement said.

Established by the Delhi government in mid-March, around 1,250 people were kept in the centre, including an initial lot of 250 foreign nationals. A team of army doctors and nursing staff has been assisting the civil administration at the Narela quarantine centre since April 1.

“Presently, 932 members from markaz (centre) are being taken care in the facility and 367 out of them have been tested Covid-19 positive,” the Army said. The Army team managing the facility includes six medical officers, 18 paramedical staff and a few personnel providing administrative security who have all volunteered to stay on the premises.

As reported by Hindustan Times on April 7, the police filed an FIR against two Jamaat members, residents of Uttar Pradesh’s Barabanki district, for defecating in front of their room at the Narela quarantine centre.

“The professional approach of the army medical team has won the hearts of inmates, who have been very cooperative, facilitating smooth handling of all medical procedures,” the army said, adding that is “tremendous synergy” with the civil administration to run the facility.