Nizamuddin

The biggest outside India is in Pakistan’s Raiwind, where the congregation this month was linked to at least 30 infections.

A more serious spread from a sect’s gathering was reported from Malaysia, where at least 500 from the nearly 16,000 who gathered for the four-day event starting on February 27 at the Sri Petaling mosque compound, according to a New York Times report. Three days later, they dispersed to other countries, including India, Pakistan and Indonesia – the three other prominent countries where the sect was next scheduled to hold congregations.

According to a Delhi Police official, the foreign arrivals for the Nizamuddin congregation began on March 10.

On Monday, police cordoned off roads leading to the Nizamuddin area near the police station. “The whole city is under lockdown. Now with some cases of people showing symptoms of Covid-19 reported from Nizamuddin area, we have posted more police personnel at the market places and the lanes to ensure that people follow the lockdown. Our officers on the ground are also helping the government officers in Nizamuddin basti area,” said deputy commissioner of police (south east) RP Meena.

Several of the confirmed Covid-19 patients linked to the Nizamuddin building covered vast distances, taking trains and flights, after they likely became infected and were potentially passing it on to others.

The seven who died in Hyderabad were, for instance, in a group including 10 Indonesians who started showing symptoms around March 18. Disease surveillance officials traced their travel history back to Delhi through a train journey and found that they took part in several religious events and stayed at a local madarsa in the Telangana city.