New Delhi/Hyderabad, March 31:
Six people who attended a congregation at a mosque in Delhi’s Nizamuddin have died in Telangana after testing positive for coronavirus. A cleric at the event had died in Srinagar last week.
More than 2,000 delegates, including from Malaysia, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Kyrgyzstan, attended the congregation in mid-March of Tabligh-e-Jamaat – a Muslim religious organisation.
In a huge health risk, as many as 1,400 people continued to stay at the Jamaat’s “Markaj” even after this period even as a 21-day nationwide lockdown was imposed on March 24.
Over 300 people who were part of the congregation have been taken to different hospitals to be tested for coronavirus in Delhi and kept in isolation.
Nine attendees and the wife of one of them have tested positive in the Andaman and Nicobar islands.
Of the six people in Telangana, two died in Gandhi Hospital, one each in Apollo Hospital, Global Hospital, in Nizamabad and in Gadwal.
Special teams have identified those who came in contact with these people and they have been shifted to hospitals, a note from Chief Minister KCR’s office said, adding that they have been tested and are being treated.
The authorities have appealed to all those who participated in the congregation to contact officials. At least 10 Indonesians who went to Telangana after the event tested positive.
Delhi Police, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) officials and medical teams went to the South Delhi locality late on Sunday night after reports said a large number of people were showing symptoms for the disease.
