Attendees of the religious congregation at Tabligh-e-Jamaat’s Markaz in Delhi's Nizamuddin area are being examined at an isolation center in Prayagraj (ANI Photo)

The Central government on Friday pointed out that nearly one third of India’s coronavirus positive cases were from the Tablighi Jamaat cluster of individuals comprising of Nizamuddin congregation attendees and their contacts. A senior health ministry official added that the lockdown measures had otherwise ensured that there was no dramatic rise in infections.

“From yesterday till today, 336 additional cases of Covid-19 have come before us. Total confirmed cases are 2301, 56 deaths have been reported,” said Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary Health Ministry.

He went on to say that close to six hundred and fifty of these positive cases were reported in the last two days from the Tablighi Jamaat cluster.

“647 confirmed positive cases found in the last two days are linked to Tablighi Jamaat from 14 states. These states are Andaman & Nicobar, Assam, Delhi, Himachal, Haryana, J&K, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttarakhand and UP,” Agarwal added.

Agarwal added that it was evident that the number of positive cases in the country was not rising (by much) due to positive results from the lockdown measures until these recent cases came up. He said now, there was a need for a renewed effort and additional care to ensure that the cases don’t spike dramatically.

The home ministry official present at the daily briefing on the status of the spread of the disease and government’s containment efforts said that around 360 foreigners who had returned to their countries after attending the Jamaat at Nizamuddin will also be blacklisted.

“960 foreigners have been blacklisted, the process to blacklist around 360 foreigners who attended the Jamaat meet but have now returned to their countries, has also begun,” said Punya Salila Srivastava, joint secretary, ministry of home affairs.

Action against these foreign nationals was being taken under the Disaster Management Act and the Foreign Management Act. She added that any steps for deporting the blacklisted foreign nationals will be done in accordance with the necessary health protocols that are in effect due to the coronavirus pandemic outbreak.

A home ministry document had earlier indicated that foreigners from at least 41 countries had attended the Nizamuddin meet in violation of their visa conditions. Most of these attendees had arrived on a Tourist visa but yet utilized their stay to attend a religious meet.

In other important announcements, the home ministry official said that states have been instructed by the Centre to take strict action to ensure the safety of the medical fraternity involved in fighting coronavirus. The instruction is a fallout of incidents of attack and ill-treatment of health professionals.