A recent religious gathering becomes a hotspot of coronavirus in India, which was organized in Delhi’s Nizamuddin area. At this time period when whole the country is observing a nationwide lockdown and the government is trying their best to contain the COVID-19 outbreak, this recent incident has become a major worry for the general public as well as the officials.
With this incident, the tensions are now increasing, as a total of six persons from Telangana state, who attended the conference this month (March 13 and 15), died yesterday (March 30) due to coronavirus. A statement from the chief minister’s office has confirmed the news.
Authorities said that they found around 2,000 people who were staying at Markaz Nizamuddin. Out of these, representatives from Indonesia as well as Malaysia had also attended the congregation which was organized by Tablighi Jamaat, a global Islamic missionary movement that was set up in the year 1926.
The Health Minister of Delhi, Satyender Jain, also told reporters that 24 people who were staying there had tested positive for the COVID-19, so far.
On Tuesday, the Delhi government had also asked the police to file a criminal case against this Islamic organization, for breaking the rules and guidelines for maintaining social distancing.
Yesterday, on March 30, the Delhi police cordoned off a major area in Nizamuddin West, located in south Delhi, where more than 200 people have shown the coronavirus symptoms. So far, Delhi comprises of a total of 97 confirmed coronavirus cases.
Confirmed cases of coronavirus have been surfaced in many states that are linked to the said gathering.
On March 27, there were total of six attendees of the Delhi meeting who have tested positive in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Other than that, a 65-year-old man also died of coronavirus at Jammu & Kashmir’s Srinagar hospital on March 26, who had also attended the congregation. A 52-year-old man was also tested positive after his return to Guntur in Andhra Pradesh state, who also attended this gathering.
However, Tablighi Jamaat, on the other hand, had denied accusations that it had broken social distancing laws, stating that it was forced to provide shelter to the visitors who were stranded by the lockdown that was earlier declared by PM Narendra Modi on March 24, with just four hours’ notice.
Now, the entry to the Markaz Masjid has been banned. The mosque where the congregation was organized and more than 2000 people gathered will be banned until further orders.
The center is now planning to blacklist about 800 preachers from Indonesia who have come on a tourist visa as well as took part in the three-day religious conference. Furthermore, India also let the tourists from Indonesia for applying for a visa on arrival.
At the present date, India’s total count of confirmed cases of COVID-19 patients stands at 1,251, with 32 deaths, so far.
However, more cases have been emerging in the country but the Narendra Modi government has disproved all such reports that claim that the on-going lockdown may extend beyond April 14.
