The number of positive cases in India crossed 3,000- mark on Friday night, reporting major increase in Maharashtra, Delhi, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telengana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.
Of these cases, nearly 650 are linked to the Nizamuddin event of Tablighi Jamaat. There have been nearly 70 deaths, of which at least 12 have been reported in the past 24 hours.
Nearly 9,000 people who attended New Delhi’s Tablighi Jamaat congregation between March 10 and 15 have been traced across 14 States in India.
While the Ministry of Health confirmed 2,557 cases, the State-wise figure clubbed together placed the number of positive cases to 3,044, registering a massive addition of 500 new cases by 9 pm on Friday.
With 67 new cases detected on Friday, number of coronavirus cases in Maharashtra jumped to 490 and death toll rose to 26.
Second place was Tamil Nadu which recoded 102 cases on Friday taking it overall tally to 441, while Delhi stood at the third place with 384 positive cases and Kerala was placed fourth with 295 cases.
Telengaga recorded 75 new cases taking the toll to 229 followed by Uttar Pradesh which added 44 new cases to take the total to 172 cases, 34 of which have come from Noida alone.
As many as 647 COVID-19 positive cases were found in 14 States in the last two days are linked to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation. Out of the 12 deaths reported in the last 24 hours some are related to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation, Joint Secretary in the Health Ministry Lav Agarwal said in a daily media briefing.
The Joint Secretary said 647 positive cases of the coronavirus have been found in the last two days that are linked to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation, and these were reported from 14 States (and Union Territories) Andaman and Nicobar, Delhi, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.
The Joint Secretary said that in the past few days the cases were coming at a particular level, which showed that lockdown aimed towards social distancing was working effectively.
The sudden rise it is due to carelessness by some people, he said in an apparent reference to the Tablighi Jamaat.
“We should understand that we are dealing with the infectious disease, he said underlining the importance of ensuring social distancing norms during the lockdown announced by Prime Minister Narenendra Modi on March 24, 2020.