United News of India
New Delhi, Apr 1: As 386 new Coronavirus cases surfaced within 24 hours with three more deaths, authorities on Wednesday on a war footing continued the tracing of hundreds of participants of a religious event at Nizamuddin–the new hotbed for Coronavirus cases.
Thousands of people from across the country, as well as from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Saudi Arabia, attended a religious gathering at Markaz Nizamuddin in Delhi last month over a number of days. A large number of them were stuck on the premises as the country went into lockdown on March 24. The centre is international headquarters of Tablighi Jamaat, an Islamic sect.
Scores of people who attended the gathering have tested positive for the virus while several have succumbed. The outcome had not only created a panic within the country but could potentially hinder the containment efforts as many attendees, who could be affected, have reached their hometowns.
Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, through video conferencing, asked all States Chief Secretaries, Director Generals of Police and Administrators of all Union Territories to conduct intensive contact tracing of Tablighi Jamaat participants on a war-footing in their respective states.
He said that it has been found that foreigners, who participated in the event, violated visa conditions.
‘The states need to initiate action for violation of visa condition against the foreigners and the organisers of the event”, he asked the DGPs.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the tally for coronavirus cases reached 1,637 with a total of 38 casualties.
The active Covid-19 cases stood at 1,466 while 132 people have been cured and discharged. One infected person has migrated from India.
India’s highly populated state, Uttar Pradesh, opened its tally in Coronavirus casualties with one death each reported from Gorakhpur and Meerut.
The Coronavirus has infected as many as 302 people in Maharashtra, with 11 succumbing from the viral infection, the highest across the country.
In Kerala, the total number of Coronavirus climbed to 241, with two deaths.
In National Capital, Covid cases have suddenly increased in past few days. As many as 120 cases have surfaced so far.
Andhra Pradesh has reported as many as 83 positive cases, Tamil Nadu 124, Karnataka 101 and 94 surfaced in Telangana.
Madhya Pradesh accounts for 47 positive cases, Gujarat 74, Rajasthan 94, Uttar Pradesh 103 and Haryana 43.
As many as 23 cases surfaced in Bihar, nine in Chhattisgarh, 13 in Chandigarh, seven in Uttarakhand, 55 people in Jammu and Kashmir, 13 in Ladakh and 26 in West Bengal.
