All 75 new TN cases linked to Jamaat
CHENNAI:Tamil Nadu on Thursday reported 75 fresh cases of Covid-19, of which 74 had attended the Tablighi Jamaat religious conference held in Delhi in March. The 75th person who is from Chennai contracted the virus after coming in contact with someone from the group, state officials said.
The state now has 309 positive Covid-19 cases, of which 264 are related to the religious conference, which is now being treated as the largest cluster in the country.
Including Thursday’s fresh cases, the virus has now spread across 20 districts in Tamil Nadu.
“There are 75 fresh cases in Tamil Nadu today of which 74 were people who took part in this Delhi Conference. One person had contact with someone who has travel history to Delhi,” health secretary Dr Beela Rajesh said.
Nearly 1,500 people from Tamil Nadu are believed to have attended the religious conference held in New Delhi’s Nizamuddin. Until Wednesday, the state had traced 1103 persons.
“All 1103 people have been tested but some of the results are under process. Of these 264 have tested positive,” she said. “All have been tested but results are under process.”
Rajesh said that the state was increasing the testing facilities and six more labs will be added soon. Each lab can carry out 100 tests every day.
Tamil Nadu was using the lockdown time to ramp up testing facilities and focus on infrastructure and equipment.
“We have enough masks, Personal Protective Equipment kits, enough to give all nurses who are working in isolation wards. We have made it mandatory for all who have to see patients in isolation wards. Daily there is a 20-minute ‘mock drill’ on how to put on the PPE and remove it, how to interact with the patients, and how to maintain the distance,” she said.