COVID-19 HIGHLIGHTS | Three deaths from Telangana take India toll to 59, confirmed cases cross 2000
The Health Ministry officials on Wednesday said cases have increased largely due to Tablighi Jamaat congregation, which took place in mid-March, and therefore does not show a national trend.
Published: 31st March 2020 12:23 AM | Last Updated: 02nd April 2020 07:44 AM | A+A A-
Government employees rush to catch a state transport bus at Chatrapati Shivaji Terminal during the nationwide lockdown imposed in wake of the coronavirus pandemic in Mumbai Wednesday April 1 2020. (Photo | PTI)
The massive spike in India's coronavirus tally continued on Wednesday, as the number of positive cases crossed 2000, while the death toll stood at 56. So far, 176 people have recovered from the pandemic and released from hospitals across the country.
The Health Ministry attributed the big spike in the numbers of confirmed coronavirus cases largely to the Tablighi Jamaat, an orthodox Muslim society set up nearly 100 years ago by Deobandi Islamic scholar Maulana Muhammad Ilyas Khandhalawi as a religious reform movement and to spread the faith.
In a sweeping nationwide hunt, authorities across states have identified more than 6,000 people who attended the Nizamuddin Tablighi Jamaat congregation, the biggest COVID-19 hotspot in India, as more than 450 fresh cases of infection emerged on Wednesday to take the tally over 1,900 with at least 59 deaths.
More than 5,000 of those identified to have attended the congregation have been quarantined, including in hospitals across states, while efforts are on to trace another 2,000 including in Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Telangana.
The list includes foreigners as well, while some of those identified by the state authorities are yet to return from Delhi to their respective native places.
