The Union Home Ministry said approximately 2,100 foreigners visited India for ‘tablighi’ activities this year, including those from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Nepal, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Kyrgyzstan

TABLIGHI JAMAAT-LINKED CASES SPRING ACROSS COUNTRY

In the national capital alone, at least 24 people who took part in the religious congregation, Tablighi Jamaat, have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, as he slammed the organisers for being “highly irresponsible” on their part to hold such an event at a time when thousands have died in other countries due to the pandemic.

The Union Home Ministry said approximately 2,100 foreigners visited India for ‘tablighi’ activities this year, including those from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Nepal, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Kyrgyzstan.

It also said that all state police have been asked to locate Indian Tabligh Jamaat workers from local coordinators, followed by their medical screening and quarantine.

So far, 2137 such people have been identified and are being medically examined and quarantined, while more would be located, the Ministry said.

Several state governments, including in West Bengal, Assam and Manipur, said they are taking steps to locate participants of the Nizamuddin event.

Karnataka government said 54 people from the state had attended the event, out of which 13 have been identified but they have tested negative for the Covid-19.

Gujarat police also launched a probe to identify all the attendees from the state and said primary investigations have revealed that some persons from Bhavnagar had attended the congregation.

At least 17 people from Himachal Pradesh also attended the congregation, a state police spokesperson said.

A Srinagar-based businessman is being seen as the “super-spreader” in this entire case as he travelled by air, train and road to Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and back to Jammu and Kashmir before he died of Covid-19 on March 26, raising fears he may have infected many others along the way, officials said on Tuesday.ADVERTISEMENT

Six people in Telangana who attended the meeting in the city’s Nizamuddin West area also died on Monday.

According to officials, other states from where the attendees had come include Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Andaman Nicobar Islands, Rajasthan, Kerala, Odisha, Punjab and Meghalaya.

In Andhra Pradesh, officials said more than half of the 40 people who have tested positive for coronavirus in the state were linked to the Nizamuddin event.

The police registered an FIR against Maulana Saad of the Nizamuddin centre under sections of Epidemic Disease Act and other sections of the Indian Penal Code for violating government orders on the management of the Markaz in relation to a social, political or religious gathering.