Chennai: With the State witnessing 17 cases in just one day, the Tamilnadu government is making all efforts to trace close to 1,000 Tamil Muslims who had taken part in a three-day Tablighi Jamaat conference at a Nizamuddin mosque in Delhi that ended on 23 March and returned home.
Officials are working overtime to screen the 980 persons and isolate them and their families and contacts. Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami confirmed that the people who tested positive in Erode had been part of the delegation to Delhi.
Shockingly, nine persons who attended the conference– six in Telangana and one each in Tamilnadu, Karnataka and Jammu & Kashmir – have died of the disease.
According to reports, of the 17 samples tested among the group that had returned, 16 persons tested positive, 14 in Erode district itself. The sudden spurt in the number of cases in Erode can be attributed to this, they added.
Talking to reporters after reviewing the COVID-19 prevention measures with higher officials at the State Secretariat, Palaniswami said the number of corona casesin the State went up to 67, with 10 cases reported from Erode, five from Chennai and one each from Madurai and Karur districts.