647 positive COVID-19 cases in 14 states linked to Tablighi Jamaat
New Delhi, Apr 04: As many as 647 COVID-19 positive cases found in 14 states in the last two days are linked to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation, the Union health ministry said on Friday.
Out of the 12 deaths reported in the last 24 hours some are related to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation, Joint Secretary in the Health Ministry Lav Agarwal said in a daily media briefing.
The congregation took place early last month in the national capital's West Nizamuddin area.
So far there have been 2,301 cases of COVID-19 in India and 56 deaths out of which 12 were reported since Thursday, he said, adding there has been a rise of 336 coronavirus cases since Thursday. He said till now 157 patients have recovered.
On Friday, TN reported 102 COVID-19 cases and 100 are linked to Tablighi Jamaat
The joint secretary said that "647 positive cases of the coronavirus have been found in the last two days that are linked to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation, and these were reported from 14 states (and union territories) Andaman and Nicobar, Delhi, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh".
"If we see the rise in cases in the last few days, it has primarily been due to an increase at a particular level," Agarwal said in an apparent reference to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation.
He said because of the lockdown and "our efforts to promote social distancing, cases were being reported but there was no sharp rise".
4,000 blacklisted for engaging in Tablighi activity illegally: Why India needs to do more
There
are
182
labs
in
the
country
for
COVID-19
diagnosis,
out
of
which
130
are
government
labs,
an
Indian
Council
of
Medical
Research
(ICMR)
official
said.
The
official
said
about
8,000
samples
were
tested
on
Thursday
for
COVID-19.
Agarwal also said that 30 lakh have downloaded the government's 'AarogyaSetu' mobile app to help people assess risk of COVID-19.