Two persons belonging to the Tablighi Jamaat died on Thursday due to COVID-19 in the national capital which witnessed a record number of 141 fresh cases on a single day, with the majority linked to the religious meeting held in south Delhi's Nizamuddin. The total number of positive cases has now touched 293.
Of the 141 fresh cases, 129 belonged to Tablighi Jamaat, which is linked to at least 13 deaths across India following its members who attended its religious gathering in mid-march spread across the country. Two other persons belonging to the Islamic missionary movement died, taking the total toll for the capital to four.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal attributed the rise in cases and deaths to the religious gathering of Tablighi Jamaat in mid-March, saying the numbers could further rise in the next couple of days as more tests of people who attended the meet will be conducted.
Authorities had earlier this week evacuated 2,346 from the Tablighi Masjid headquarters that houses the Alami Markaz Banglewali Masjid. Of this, 536 symptomatic people were shifted to hospitals while the rest 1,810 were shifted to institutional quarantine facilities.
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On Thursday, Delhi Health Secretary Padmini Singla shot off a letter to Delhi Police Commissioner S N Shrivastava seeking police deployment in hospitals where Tablighi Jamaat followers are admitted were allegedly creating trouble.
Singla also referred to an incident in Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital on Wednesday where a Tablighi Jamaat follower attempted to commit suicide but was rescued by staff. In another incident in the Narela DDA quarantine facility, two others from the outfit escaped and were later tracked to Patparganj.
"...Patients particularly those transferred from Markaz (Tablighi Jamaat headquarters), are creating a law and order problem and commotion in the hospitals which are becoming very difficult for the hospital staff to handle," Singla wrote in her letter demanding police deployment.
So far, officials said, 3,120 samples were sent from Delhi for testing of which results of 375 are still pending. Of the 2745 results, 293 have tested positive.
They said 2,151 people who travelled abroad are still in home quarantine while their 18,257 contacts are also yet to complete the 14-day cycle.
In Delhi, they said, 243 ventilators, 3,261 personal prevention equipment, 4.63 lakh surgical mask, 20,566 N-95 masks, and 22,366 sanitisers are available.