301/445: Tablighi link in Capital cases
NEWDELHI: Three hundred and one people linked to the Tablighi Jamaat’s mid-March congregation in Nizamuddin have so far tested positive for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), with test reports on the final batch of 586 people coming in on Saturday, a Delhi government official said.
“A few others – about 10 people who developed symptoms later at quarantine facilities -- were also brought in to hospitals,” said the official, asking not to be named.
The number of confirmed Covid-19 patients makes for a so-called rate of positivity, or proportion of people who tested positive for the infection, a worrying 55%, prompting the Delhi government to start testing on Saturday the 1,800 people linked to the congregation who have been housed in quarantine facilities.
“We have started collecting the samples from quarantine facilities today, hopefully it will be done in the next two to three days,” said a second senior official, asking not to be named.
Around 30% of the total cases so far are linked to one particular place where we could not sort of understand it and manage it
LAV AGARWAL , joint secretary
NEW DELHI: At least 1,023 cases of Covid-19 in India are linked to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in New Delhi, the Union health ministry announced on Saturday, adding that authorities had traced nearly 22,000 other people who were connected to the religious event that has emerged as the biggest hot spot of the infection in the country.
At a briefing, ministry joint secretary Lav Agarwal said infections linked to the event were found in 17 states and that primary contacts of the 22,000 people had been placed in quarantine. “Around 30% of the total cases so far are linked to one particular place where we could not sort of understand it and manage it.”
The congregation of the Islamic missionary group at its six-storey headquarters in Delhi’s Nizamuddin saw people trickling in and out for weeks, and came to light late on Saturday when officials began evacuating hundreds from the building. By that time, many people had already gone back to their homes, forcing many state governments to call in the police and paramilitary forces to ferret people out of villages. Prominent religious and political leaders have also appealed any attendees to contact local health authorities.
Among the worst hit is Tamil Nadu, which now has the second highest count in India (485) after Maharashtra. Only one of the 74 new cases reported in TN on Saturday were linked to the event.
In Uttar Pradesh, 47 of the 55 fresh cases were members of the Jamaat who attended the event, additional secretary, home, Aw a ni sh Kumar Awasthi and principal secretary, health and family welfare, Amit Mohan Prasad said at a joint press conference in Lucknow. The state police identified 1,302 Jamaat members and 1,000 have been quarantined,” he said.
In Andhra Pradesh, the government declared that 1,085 people had attended the conference, of which 946 people had been identified and tested. At least 108 had tested positive for Covid-19. Another 626 persons came in contact with the attendees and 32 of them contracted the virus. “In all, 140 out of 161 positive cases in the state were related to Tablighi Jamaat meeting directly and indirectly,” a release from the state government said. The details of the remaining persons related to Jamaat incident are yet to be revealed.
In Assam, 24 of the 25 patients visited the Jamaat event last month. “...I would appeal to the district and state level functionaries of Tablighi Jamaat in Assam to give us the entire list of attendees voluntarily. We have not got the kind of response we expected... If we don’t get all the information by Sunday we might be forced to ask the police to get involved,” said Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
In Odisha, three of the 28 people from the state who attended the Jamaat have tested positive. A senior government official said 68 persons from Odisha, including several African nationals, attended the event last month.
On Saturday, Uttarakhand police said it had identified 708 Jamaat followers and quarantined 673 of them. “In the case of 383 Jamaatis from our state, 26 didn’t return and are quarantined in Delhi only...,” said Ashok Kumar, director general (law & order), Uttarakhand police.
Three Jamaat members were among 11 tested positive in Kerala on Saturday, said state health minister KK Shailaja. In Bengal, the government has not disclosed whether anyone attended the event but the Kolkata Port Trust said on Saturday that a man working at Haldia port, who went to the Markaz, tested positive. KoPT said officers who might have had any kind of contact with the patient were quarantined.