India's entire attention is now focused in Nizamuddin at New Delhi where a Muslim congregation of 2000 people threatened to explode a time bomb in the country which is struggling to take a grip over the Coronavirus.
These Muslim have come from all parts of India and at least200 of them from different foreign nations for a religious seminar held at aMosque at Nizamuddin.
At least six of the persons who returned to Telangana havedied from the virus and positive cases are emerging from at least five regionsincluding J&;K, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and the Andaman and Nicobarislands.
The religious congregation took place between March 13-15 and there the virus spread. The suspected outbreak was discovered earlier yesterday in Delhi as it emerged that several had their travel history to foreign countries and a large congregation was held on March 13-5 at a Markaz in Nizamuddin. The area was sealed today and hundreds of those present were whisked away to hospitals.
The Telangana Chief Minister's Office said in a tweet, "Six people from Telangana who attended a religious congregation at Markaz in Nizamuddin area of New Delhi from March 13-15 succumbed after they contracted coronavirus. Two died in Gandhi Hospital while one each died in Apollo Hospital, Global Hospital, Nizamabad and Gadwal."
The state has intensified its efforts to locate all thosewho returned from the event and the contact trail. The maximum participant came from Tamil Nadu.
As many as 1,400 people continued to stay at theTabligh-e-Jamaat"s "Markaz" in Delhi"s Nizamuddin West even afterthe event. More than 2,000 delegates, including from Malaysia, Indonesia, SaudiArabia and Kyrgyzstan, attended the congregation of Tablighi Jamaat – a Muslimreligious organisation – from March 13 to 15.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejirwal has ordered to file a FIR against the Maulana of the Mosque who convened the meeting. Jammu and Kashmir where many of these people returned are already on alert. The district administration in all ten districts has fanned out teams to trace those who might not have disclosed their travel history or contact history with Tablighi Jamaat.
Another worrying strand that has emerged is that the list ofthose who attended the Tablighi Jamaat event in Nizamuddin from Jammu &Kashmir is huge. Clearly, many of them are not in quarantine yet and theadministration and police are making efforts to identity, trace and isolate.
It is learnt that the government has prepared a 50 page listof people from J&K who attended the congregation or came in contactwith those. Efforts are being made to identify these people and isolate them.
District magistrates in different districts of Kashmir haveissued a strong warning today evening to those who have entered the Valleyafter March 1 and have not so far revealed their travel history to theauthorities.
The order issued today evening by the various districtmagistrates said all those who entered the Valley after March 1 with travelhistory abroad, outside the Valley or association with members of the Tabligigroup are given the last chance to report to the authorities within two daysfailing which they could face imprisonment under the provisions of the disastermanagement act, 2005.
