22,000 Tablighi Jamaat members and their contacts have been quarantined: MHA

Representational image Picture courtesy: ANI

In a massive effort of the government authorities to contain the Wuhan Coronavirus, 22,000 Tablighi Jamaat workers and their contacts have been traced and kept under quarantine, informed Punya Salila Srivastava, Joint Secretary of Ministry of Home Affairs.

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Nizamuddin Markaz event has emerged as the epicentre of most of the cases of Wuhan coronavirus as several of the attendees being tested positive for the deadly contagious disease. The Ministry of Home Affairs is conducting a massive search operation to trace and identify the attendees and their contacts to isolate so that the infection can be avoided to grow further.

295 persons out of the total 485 confirmed new positive cases of Wuhan Coronavirus were detected within a single day had attended the Tablighi Jamaat held at the Nizamuddin Markaz. The event was held between March 13 and March 15 and saw a footfall of around 3400 members. 

The massive jump of cases in India is solely due to the Tablighi Jamaat members who had gathered in the Nizamuddin mosque despite government orders against mass-gatherings and follow the safety norms like social-distancing. The Jamaat members taking buses and trains to their respective localities all over India has resulted in a massive nation-wide spread within a span of few days.

The attendees of the event have been spread all over namely – Karnataka: 64 quarantined, Tamil Nadu: 981 of 1500 attendees traced – 45 tested positive, Telangana: 1300 attendees with 6 deaths and 15 positives, Andhra Pradesh: 626 of the 806 attendees traced (8 have tested positive), Andaman: 9 out of 10 positive cases attendees, UP 157 attendees of which 14 quarantined, Jammu & Kashmir has identified 6 attendees. All states are doing contact tracing and quarantining all attendees.

OpIndia Staff: Staff reporter at OpIndia