The Indian government on Wednesday blamed the Tableeghi Jamaat for spreading the deadly coronavirus across the country, as 376 new coronavirus cases have been confirmed in India within the last 24 hours.
An Indian media outlet The New Indian Express reported that Joint Secretary of Indian Health Ministry Lav Agarwal said that 1,800 people affiliated with Tableeghi Jamaat have been shifted to nine hospitals and quarantine centres. He said that the foreigners who participated in the Tableeghi Jamaat had violated the visa conditions. “The concerned states are asked to initiate action for violation of visa condition against the foreigners and the organizers of the Tableeghi Ijtema,” the government official said.
Lav Agarwal said that the recent rise in the number of cases in India did not represent a national trend if compared with the previous trends in the country. “This is our advice that any kind of congregation should be avoided. Social distancing measures should be followed by everyone without failure,” he added.
In the meeting with the chief secretaries and DGP of states, the cabinet secretaries also emphasised on intensive contract tracing of Tableeghi Jamaat participants as this has increased the risk of of COVID-19 outbreak in India. “The concerned states have been asked to complete the contact tracing process on a war footing,” said a government statement.
India’s official tally of confirmed novel coronavirus patient has risen to 1637, out of which 132 patients have recovered while 38 have lost their lives.