On Friday, TN reported 102 COVID-19 cases and 100 are linked to Tablighi Jamaat

New Delhi, Apr 04: The number of COVID-19 cases in the country has doubled in the past three days and 25 per cent of them are related to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation.

Between March 31 and April 3, the number of positive cases jumped from 1,251 to 2,547. Statistics reveal that out of the 478 new cases that were reported in the past 24 hours, at least 247 are traced to the gathering at the Markaz Nizamuddin, which was attended by over 4,000 people.

The joint secretary, Ministry of Health, Lav Agarwal said that 647 cases linked to the Jamaat event had been reported from 14 states. Telangana reported 75 new cases linked to the Jamaat. On Friday Tamil Nadu reported 102 cases of which 100 were linked to the congregation. Tamil Nadu's health secretary, Veela Rajesh said that of the 411 cases in the state so far, 364 are linked to the Jamaat. A total of 1,200 people who travelled to Delhi in this regard have been tested for COVID-19 of which 303 people tested negative and the final results are pending, she said.

The primary reason for the increase is the number of cases at a particular level. Otherwise our efforts to promote social distancing and effectively implement the lockdown has been effective. We have to understand that we are dealing with an infectious disease and one person's failure puts us all back and all our efforts are a waste, Agarwal also said.

So far the states that have reported cases relating to the Tablighi are from Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar, Himachal Pradesh, Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.