The organiser said he had visited the anti-CAA protest site at Jahangirpuri a couple of times after his sister is believed to have contracted coronavirus.

New Delhi: One of the organisers of the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protest in Delhi’s Jahangirpuri has undergone a test for COVID-19 after his sister tested positive, ThePrint has learnt.

The sister is said to have tested positive after her return from Saudi Arabia on 11 March. She had visited the country for the Umrah pilgrimage, which can be performed any time of the year and is not compulsory. Saudi Arabia has banned visits to pilgrimage sites in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak and the sister likely entered the country before the ban kicked in.

Speaking to ThePrint, the 35-year-old man said he had been to the protest site “a couple of times” after a meeting with his sister on 13 March two days after she returned.

“I didn’t show any symptoms of the disease (at the time), so I went about life as usual,” he added.

The sister tested positive two days after their meeting, he said, and is currently undergoing treatment at Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital.

“After she tested positive, I thought it is my responsibility as an aware citizen to let the doctors know that I got in touch with a coronavirus-positive person,” he said.

He added that he hadn’t been showing any symptoms of coronavirus, but developed a cough on 16 March.

“I developed a mild cough, and I also learnt that my sister has tested positive. So I thought it would be wise to get myself tested,” he said.

The organiser is currently in quarantine at Delhi’s Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) Hospital, where he is awaiting his test results that are likely to come later Thursday.

The sister’s diagnosis couldn’t be independently confirmed in the absence of hospital-wise data for COVID-19 patients. According to health ministry data, 11 people have tested positive for coronavirus in Delhi so far, with two cured and one deceased. The number of cases for the country stood at 169 as of Thursday afternoon.

Also Read: Shaheen Bagh protest must end now. Its returns are diminishing and COVID-19 is a real risk

‘Sister never attended any protest’

The Jahangirpuri anti-CAA protest is one of the many agitations that started around the country in December after Parliament passed the controversial CAA, which introduces a religious ground for refugees seeking Indian citizenship.

The organiser said the protest was still on at Jahangirpuri’s C-Block Eidgah Park.

“There are about 400-450 people at the protest site, a majority of whom are women,” he added.

He said his sister had never attended any of the anti-CAA protests.

Also Read: This is how Shaheen Bagh plans to continue its anti-CAA protest despite coronavirus scare

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