Over 1,300 people - 711 from Andhra Pradesh (AP) and more than 600 people from Telangana - may be potential carriers of the novel coronavirus (covid-19) in the two Telugu states, due to the religious congregation held at New Delhi’s Nizamuddin area. The Telangana government said that more than 600 people had gone to Delhi to attend the religious congregation at Nizamuddin. 200 teams from different departments were sent across the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation area today, which conducted enquiries at 463 households after which it was found that 74 persons were suffering from health issues. While most were asked to self-quaratine themselves, those who were unwell were sent to government hospitals.

The jolt came on Monday night, when six deaths of attendees were confirmed in Telangana, and since then both states have woken up to the possibility of community transmission.

Telangana and AP have suddenly become potential clusters of Covid-19, after it was slowly found out that thousands from across the country and abroad (including the 1,000-plus from the two Telugu states) had attended an Ijtema (religious gathering) at the Alami Markaz (meaning centre) Banglewali mosque earlier this month, which was organized by the Tabhlighi Jamat (sect of Sunni Islam).

On Tuesday, AP reported 17 new positive Covid-19 cases, the highest spike in numbers till date, with seven of them being people who attended the Ijtema at Nizamuddin in Delhi. The total number of Covid-19 cases in AP stand at 40. On Monday , 15 new positive cases, all linked to the Nizamuddin congregation in New Delhi, were reported in Telangana, taking the total number of cases to 97 in the state, which includes six deaths and 14 patients who have been discharged after they tested negative for Covid-19. While most of the 711 have been traced and quarantined, 85 persons are currently yet to be traced according to information from the state’s health department.

AP chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy in a statement from his office, appealed to those who traveled to Delhi’s Nizamuddin and those who are in physical contact with them, to come forward and get treated for Covid-19. He asked the officials to conduct a survey in every house in urban areas, as they are more prone to virus infection, added the statement.

Similarly in Telangana, the state police is now identifying 300 to 400 people who had attended the meeting, with a majority of them being from Hyderabad alone. Among the six who had died, one of them was a resident of the city’s Old City, which is densely populated and predominantly Muslim.

Moreover, Telangana health minister Eatala Rajender had last week said that a man from the Old City had visited Delhi (possibly to attend the said Ijtema) earlier in March, after which he tested positive for covid-19 and also infected the entire family of six. Rajender had also mentioned about another family of four from he city which was infected after a male member had visited Delhi (both cases are likely to be linked to the gathering at Nizamuddin mosque).

The cluster from from Telangana also includes a group of 10 Indonesian nationals, who tested positive for covid-19 and are undergoing treatment, and also the six others who have died so far due to the virus. About a fortnight ago, the Indonesian nationals had travelled to Karimnagar district in Telangana from New Delhi, after attending the congregation at Nizamuddin in New Delhi.

They soon came under the radar of the police, after which the health department, in coordination with the cops took their samples for testing. All of them tested positive for the virus, after which they were shifted to Hyderabad.

Immediately after, the Karimnagar police cordoned-off a limited area (three-kilometre radius where the Indonesian nationals were found) to ensure that there would be no community transmission. “They had come to Telangana on a tourist visa, with which you can go anywhere. There are about 300 to 400 people from the state who went to Delhi and we are tracking all of them," said a senior police official who did not want to be quoted.

The Telangana government has also asked those who attended the religious congregation to come forward and has promised free treatment to them. Of the six people who died, two of them passed away at the state-run Gandhi hospital (which has been turned into the sole treatment centre to treat covid-19), while others died in private hospitals.

A said statement from Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao’s (KCR) on Monday also announced a salary-cut of 75% for himself, the state’s MLAs, MLCs, state corporation chairpersons and representatives of other local bodies. The pay-cut has also been extended to IAS/IPS/IFS and other such central government services officers who will see their salaries coming down by 60%, while all other category of employees will see their salaries halved, among other such pay-cuts due to the ongoing covid-19 pandemic.

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