Two Al-Umma members lodged in Chennai prison test positive for Covid-19

CHENNAI: Two members of fundamentalist organisation Al-Umma, who are serving a jail term in Chennai’s Puzhal Central Prison in connection with the 1998 Coimbatore blast case, have tested positive for Covid-19 and have been admitted to the corona ward of Government Stanley Hospital (GSH).
The duo -- Umar Farook, 51, and Zakir Hussain, 52 -- had complained of fever and cough for the past three days. They requested prison superintendent Senthil Kumar to get them tested for Covid-19. The prison authorities took them to the GSH for RT-PCR test.
When the test result came positive for Covid-19, they were admitted to the corona ward in the hospital. Their health condition was stable, prison officials said.
Prison officials suspect that the duo might have contracted Covid-19 from some inmates who were shifted from prison – 2 to prison -1 as part of an exercise to decongest prisons. Officials were keeping a watch on the prisoners to find if more of them contracted Covid-19.