The Union Health Ministry on Saturday, April 18, said that 4,291 or about 30% of the total 14,378 coronavirus cases in the country have occurred due to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi.

In the national capital, 63% of the 1,707 cases have been linked to the religious congregation which has put as many as 40,000 people in quarantine.

The total number of positive cases in India have now jumped to 17,265, 2,547 have been cured and 535 have succumbed to the virus.

Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary Health Ministry, said that 4,291 coronavirus cases are epidemiologically linked to the Nizamuddin Markaz gathering.

‘These cases are spread across 23 states and Union Territories, which include most of the high degree burden cases -Tamil Nadu has 84 per cent cases, Delhi 63% and Assam 91%, Uttar Pradesh 61% and Andaman & Nicobar 83%,’ the minister said.

‘If lockdown and social distancing norms are not followed, then the entire country would have to face the consequences,’ he said.

He also addedthat 47 districts in 23 states have shown improvement in the fight against COVID-19.

‘One district each in Puducherry and Karnataka has not reported a positive coronavirus yet along with 22 new districts, split across various states, have also not reported new cases in the last 14 days,’ he said.

Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Sunday rubbished the government’s claims that an event organised by the Tablighi Jamaat in Delhi’s Nizamuddin area has resulted in a huge spike in COVID-19 cases in India.

‘If the number of coronavirus patients in India has gone up only due to Jamaatis, then what about rest of the world,’ Soren said in an interview to The Print. ‘Why is the situation so bad there?’

‘Diseases and ailment do not differentiate on the basis of caste or religion,’ the minister said, adding that some ‘mentally deprived’ people were doing politics and spreading confusion.

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