Coronavirus hotspot: Tamil Nadu looks for those who took part in Delhi congregation

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu anti-Covid-19 machinery swung into action to trace the 980 Tamil Muslims who had taken part in a three-day Tablighi Jamaat conference at a Nizamuddin mosque in Delhi that ended on March 23 and returned home, to screen and isolate them and their families and contacts. Chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami confirmed that the people who tested positive in Erode had been part of the delegation to Delhi.
Nine Indians who attended – six in Telangana and one each in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and J&K – have died of the disease.

At least one foreign national, a Filipino, has died and 19 foreigners, followers of the Islamic missionary movement, have tested positive for Covid-19 across the country so far.
District collectors in the state are on the job of tracking those who took part in the conference. “We have isolated 33, out of which 10 have tested positive. The operation is still on to identify the Muslim members and their families,” said Erode collector C Kathiravan. In Coimbatore, 44 of the 61 had been traced and 41 tested. “The families were refusing to get screened. We were firm with them,” said Coimbatore collector K Rajamani.
“Today, health department officials visited my house and checked for symptoms. I am fine,” said Rahamathullah of Puthanatham in Trichy.
In Delhi, some 1,500 members of the group are still inside the mosque of whom nearly 300 were found to have fever, cough and breathing difficulty, triggering panic among inmates.