Surge in COVID-19 cases in Gujarat linked to Tablighi Jamaat meet

The number of positive coronavirus cases in Gujarat rose to 122 on Sunday with detection of 14 fresh cases which includes death of a 61-year-old woman.

But, what is more, alarming is that the rise in cases is linked to Tablighi Jamaat congregation in New Delhi.

Officials said that eight peoples were found to have been infected with the virus directly, while there are at least a dozen cases that are suspected to have got the infection through the attendees of the congregation. On Saturday, local police and officers of health department traced 16 such people from Kalupur in Ahmedabad and isolated, out of which five were COVID-19 positive.

Earlier in the day, principal secretary, health, Jayanti Ravi told media persons "Yesterday, we found three cases linked to Tablighi congregation. Apart from that, Ahmedabad has reported ten positive cases which were detected in the hotspot zones or those areas where Muslim brothers and sisters live in the majority. There is a big possibility that these cases are directly or indirectly connected to the Nizamuddin event."

Ahmedabad city, one of the hotspots of the virus spread in the country, is worst hit with 53 positive cases. The civic authorities have put five residential societies in Jamalpur, Dariapur, Rakhial and Danilimbda, all Muslim majority areas, under cluster containment.

Later in the day, Director General of Police, Shivanand Jha, said in his media briefing in Gandhinagar that till Sunday afternoon, police have traced 126 persons who attended Tablighi Jamaat congregation at its headquarters in Nizamuddin, Delhi, out of which six were detected coronavirus positive.

Jha said that all of them have been isolated and being treated as per the protocol. Out of six cases, five were detected in Ahmedabad and one case was found in Chotaudaipur district in central Gujarat which recorded its first case. Earlier, two persons had been found infected with the virus who had attended the event in Delhi.

In Bhavnagar city limits, ten cases have been detected out of which nine are said to be result of local transmission suspected to have spread through the 70-year-old businessman who had attended the congregation.

"We have already isolated the whole locality that house more than 20,000 population," Bhavnagar municipal commissioner MA Gandhi told DH.