COVID-19 cases linked to Tablighi Jamaat touches 1023, 30% of nationwide total: Health Min

The number of Coronavirus cases linked to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation at Delhi's Nizamuddin Markaz stands at 1,032 so far, constituting nearly 30% of all COVID-19 cases in the country, the Union Health Ministry informed on Saturday. The total number of positive cases in India has soared by 601 to reach 2,902.

Twelve people have died due to the sickness since Friday, taking the death toll to 68, the Ministry further informed. 183 people have either recovered or discharged.

"Till now we have found cases related to Tableeghi Jamaat from 17 states, 1023 COVID-19 positive cases have been found to be linked to this event. Out of the total cases in the country, around 30% are linked to one particular place," Lav Aggarwal, Joint Secretary, Health Ministry said.

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22,000 people quarantined

On the other hand, the Home Affairs Ministry said that through a massive effort around 22,000 Tablighi Jamaat workers and their contacts have been quarantined. Punya Salila Srivastava, Joint Secretary, MHA said that the Centre and State authorities will continue with strict enforcement of the lockdown measures to "break the chain of COVID".

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Age group wise breakdown

Aggarwal also gave a breakdown of the categories of cases as per their age. Interestingly, 42% patients belong to 21-40 years age as opposed to 17% patients who are over 60 years age, the latter being widely understood to be the most vulnerable age group who can be critically ill due to the deadly virus. In other groups, 9% of COVID-19 patients belong to 0-20 years age while 33% cases pertain to patients between 41-60 years age.

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