The Nizamuddin mosque gathering has led to about 150 new cases in the country, taking India’s tally to 1,834 cases, including 41 deaths.
A group of 10 religious preachers from Indonesia, who tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Telangana had participated in the Tablighi Jamaat meeting at the Alami Markaz in New Delhi’s Nizamuddin and had reached Ramagundem in Telangana on March 13 by AP Sampark Kranti Express before they were tested positive.
After all of them were shifted to Hyderabad’s Gandhi general hospital by the rapid response team on March 16 — by when they had visited four mosques in Karimnagar district and met with hundreds of people — one among them, P-5, was the first to test positive on March 17.
Two days later, on March 19, the government announced P-7 to P-14, all Indonesian nationals, as positive for COVID-19. On March 20, another two Indonesians in the group, P-18, and P-19 tested positive.
On March 21 and 23, a 35-year-old man from Hyderabad and a 23-year-old man from Karimnagar who was in contact with the Indonesian group were declared P-20 and P-30. While the state government cordoned off certain localities of the district as red zones, the district collector advised the locals who came in contact with the Indonesians to undergo diagnosis at Karimnagar government hospital.
On the evening of March 23, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao announced a total, statewide lockdown until March 31.
Though all 10 Indonesian preachers had tested positive by March 20, it was only on March 30 that the state government asked the public to come forward and inform the health department if they had participated in the Tablighi Jamaat meeting in Delhi.
At least 15 COVID-19 cases have emerged in Assam in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of people infected with the novel coronavirus to 16 in the state. All of them had been to Delhi’s Nizamuddin recently to attend a meeting of the Islamic sect Tablighi Jamaat.
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On Tuesday night, Assam reported its first positive case of COVID-19 after a 52-year-old man from Karimganj was found infected.
On Wednesday, the state reported four more positive cases, one from Nalbari and three from Morigaon. Eight more people who were tested at Jorhat Medical College were found positive. All of them are from Golaghat district. At midnight, three more cases were confirmed at Goalpara.
Assam leader Himanta Biswa Sarma said the state got a list of 547 people who were around Nizamuddin in Delhi. The government is unable to trace 117 people since either their phones are switched off or their family members are not cooperating.
“Out of 347 people who came back, we have been able to trace 230 people. We are looking for the rest. We have collected samples of 196 people and sent to five tasting labs,” Mr Sarma said.
All those people whose samples test negative will be kept in quarantine for 14 days, Mr Sarma added.
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare yesterday said 437 new cases have been reported in the last 24 hours, which is the biggest spike till date.
The novel coronavirus disease, termed Covid-19 by the WHO, has infected over 9.3 lakh people and killed more than 46,800 people across the globe, according to the John Hopkins University Covid-19 tracker.
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