COVID-19 cases soar to 96 in Haryana, Tablighi Jamaat members account for sizeable chunk: Govt

Haryana saw a sharp spike in the number of COVID-19 cases which touched 96, with most of them linked to the Tablighi Jamaat event, officials said on Monday.

Of the fresh cases, nine are from Palwal district, six from Nuh, four from Karnal and one from Charkhi Dadri, according to the state Health Department's bulletin in the evening.

The positive cases on Sunday stood at 76 and the state recorded a jump of 20 cases in a single day.

At present, there are 79 active cases in the state, 15 patients have been discharged while the state has recorded two COVID-related deaths. Reports of 459 samples were awaited.

Among the total positive cases reported, six are Sri Lankan nationals, and one each is from Nepal, Thailand, Indonesia and South Africa while 29 are from other states of the country, including Jammu and Kashmir UT, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana and Punjab, as per the bulletin.

Home Minister Anil Vij said 40 of the total active cases in the state are those linked to the Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi.

He said that until Monday, 1,526 Jamaat members, which include 107 foreigners, had been tracked down by police in the state, out of which 678 were traced from Nuh district, all of whom have entered the state before the nationwide lockdown was announced.

Among other districts, 231 Jamaat members have been tracked down from Yamunanagar district, 136 from Faridabad and 117 from Panchkula, he said.

He warned that all those Jamaat members, who may still be hiding, are given time till 5 pm on April 8 to report to concerned district administration, failing which strict action will be initiated against them as per law.

Vij, who is also state's health minister, said as against earlier decision to take samples of only those Jamaat members for COVID-19 testing who had entered the state less than a month earlier, now it has been decided that all of them will be tested irrespective of when they entered Haryana.

Officials said it was a cause of concern as a chunk of the fresh cases were linked to the Tablighi Jamaat event.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister M L Khattar, during a televised address to people of the state on Monday, informed that 13 of the 14 Italian tourists, who were admitted to the Medanta hospital in Gurgaon last month after they were found COVID-19 positive, had been discharged.

Khattar touched upon various steps which the state government has been taking to check the spread of COVID-19 in the state, besides extending help to those poor sections of the society who have been adversely hit in the wake of the nationwide lockdown.

He said the state has adequate number of personal protection equipment available which are needed by doctors, nurses and paramedical staff who are at the forefront of the battle against COVID-19 while orders are being placed at regular intervals to procure new PPE kits.