Joint Secretary Luv Agarwal during the daily press conference on the coronavirus situation in the country
Close to a third of India’s overall coronavirus infections are linked to the Tablighi Jamaat’s religious congregation that took place at Nizamuddin Markaz in New Delhi last month, the Union Health Ministry said in its daily status update briefing of the coronavirus situation in the country. “Twenty-three states and Union Territories (UTs) have reported cases linked to Tablighi Jamaat,” said Luv Agarwal, the joint secretary at the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
India has recorded 14,380 positive cases till date, including 480 deaths, he said.
Agarwal said that 80 per cent of Tamil Nadu’s total cases, 79 per cent in Telangana, 63 per cent in Delhi and 59 per cent in Uttar Pradesh had a connection to Tablighi Jamaat.
Further, thirty-two (32) of Assam’s 35 cases are linked to Jamaat, he said.
Agarwal noted at the press conference that 1,992 patients, or 13.85 per cent of the infected persons, have been able to recover from the virus till date, since it first surfaced in the country on Jan 30.
Nine hundred and ninety-one (991) infections have been recorded in the last 24 hours, including 43 deaths, he said.
Throwing light on the mortality rate among those infected by coronavirus, Agarwal put the current figure at 3.3 per cent. He revealed that those above the age of 60 years were most likely to get infected by the virus.
Overall, we have 83 per cent cases in which co-morbidity has been detected, he said.
While 22 districts across 12 states have reported fresh cases in the last 14 days, three districts—Patna (Bihar), Nadia (West Bengal) and Panipat (Haryana), which hadn’t reported a case in the last two weeks, recorded fresh infections.
Also read: 12 Indians who attended Tablighi Jamaat congregation test COVID-19 positive in Nepal
