Over 25,500 Linked To Delhi Sect Event Quarantined, Says Centre

More than 25,500 local workers of the Islamic missionary group Tablighi Jamaat and people who came in contact with them have been quarantined amid the coronavirus pandemic, the government said on Monday.

The group had organised a massive congregation last month at Delhi's Nizamuddin and has emerged as the biggest hotspot of COVID-19 spread in the country.

Of a total 4,067 coronavirus cases in country, at least 1,445 cases are linked to the Tablighi Jamaat event, the government said.

During the daily briefing, Joint Secretary Punya Salila Srivastava also told reporters that five villages in Haryana have been sealed and the residents quarantined as members of this Islamic organisation had stayed there.

She said that 1,750 foreign-based members of this the Jamaat, out of the total 2,083, have been blacklisted till now.

Ms Srivastava said that Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla has written to all states and Union Territories asking them to ensure that the supply chain of medical oxygen, critical for treatment of COVID-19 affected people, should go on smoothly while following norms of social distancing.