647 of 2031 COVID-19 cases linked to Tablighi Jamaat: Centre

Nearly 30% of the total COVID-19 confirmed cases in India are linked to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in the national capital, the government said on Friday, virtually holding the organisation responsible for undoing its efforts to arrest the spread of the disease in the country.

India had reported 2031 confirmed COVID-19 cases till Friday of which 647 were linked to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in the congested Nizamuddin area in the capital last month, spreading the infection across 14 states and union territories. These 647 cases were confirmed over the past two days.

Till Thursday, health authorities had traced over 9,000 contacts of the Tablighi Jamaat workers across the country and put them either under quarantine or in hospital, depending on their health condition.

President Ram Nath Kovind, addressing a meeting of Governors, Lt Governors and Adminstrators of Union Territories, over the gathering of migrant workers at Anand Vihar and the Tablighi Jamaat congregation, saying that the two incidents had caused a setback to the government’s efforts to combat COVID-19.

Some studies by researchers in state-run labs, that are yet to be published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, had projected India reaching the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak by May, before starting on a downward trend.

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At the daily briefing on the COVID-19 situation, Lav Aggarwal, Joint Secretary in the Health Ministry said over the past two days as many as 647 confirmed cases of the disease could be traced back to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation.

“Due to the lock down and efforts to promote social distancing, we were getting cases, but they were not huge in number. It is important for us to understand that we are dealing with an infectious disease and even a small slip up could take us back to zero,” Aggarwal said.

He said 12 deaths were reported since Thursday due to COVID-19, taking the total number of fatalities in the country to 56.

“It is difficult to ascertain at this point,” Aggarwal said to questions on how many of the 12 deaths could be linked to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation.

The government also ordered strict action in cases of attack on healthcare and frontline workers in the fight against COVID-19.

The Home Ministry has ordered strict action against 960 Tablighi Jamaat workers who had arrived here from different countries, by blacklisting them from getting the Indian visa again.

Similar action was being taken against 360 foreign workers of the congregation who had returned to their respective countries, Punya Salila Srivastava, Joint Secretary in the Home Ministry said.

In Delhi alone, out of the 384 confirmed cases for Covid-19, 259 had attended the congregation, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said.