30% of India's total COVID-19 cases are linked to Tablighi Jamaat: Health Ministry

Over 30% of all Coronavirus cases in the country are linked to the gathering of the Tablighi Jamaat which was held at Nizamuddin in Delhi last month. The government on Saturday assured there was no need to panic even though the number of COVID-19 deaths inched towards 100 and the count of confirmed infections rose by a new single-day record of over 600 to cross 3,600. Officials said that the rate of spread of Coronavirus in India was less than in many other countries and just "one place" accounted for 30% of detected cases.

'Almost 30% of them are from one particular place' 

Officials on Saturday said at least 1,023 confirmed cases of infection have been found to be linked to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in the national capital in March, but massive efforts by various authorities have led to nearly 22,000 people linked to the religious grouping and their primary contacts getting quarantined. Overall, tens of thousands are quarantined but their overall number could not be ascertained.

The Tablighi-linked infections, found across 17 states, including Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh,  showed that almost 30% of them are from "one particular place where we could not sort of understand it and manage it", Union Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said.

The Health Ministry said the testing capacity has been ramped up significantly to over 10,000 tests per day to detect the deadly coronavirus infection, as it emphasised on continuous compliance to lockdown and social distancing measures, along with personal and environmental hygiene, to win this "daily battle".

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According to the Ministry, 211 districts are now reporting COVID-19 cases, posing a high risk of further spread of the deadly virus unless it is contained.

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Officials said the number of daily tests has doubled to more than 10,000 from about 5,000 a few days ago. While the number of government labs has increased to over 100, several private labs have also been roped in, Agarwal said. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said 79,950 samples have been tested so far across the country.

Seventy-five people have died in India after being infected with novel coronavirus, the Union Health Ministry said on Saturday, as the country recorded the biggest spike in cases with over 600 cases in the last 24 hours. The fresh cases take the total to 3,072.

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(With PTI inputs)