Chennai: In a sharp increase, 110 people from Tamilnadu who attended Tablighi Jamaat congregation in New Delhi, tested positive for coronavirus, taking the number of cases to 234. This is the highest number of cases reported on a single day in the State.
With this a total of 190 Tablighi congregators from 19 districts of the State have tested positive, adding to 80 who tested positive yesterday, Health Secretary Beela Rajesh told reporters here. This included one each from Burma and Indonesia.
Of the 110 fresh cases, 28 were reported from Coimbatore, Theni (20), Dindigul (17), Madurai (9), Tiruppathur (7), Chengalpet (7),Tirunelveli (6), Sivaganga (5), Kancheepuram (2), Thiruvarur, Erode, Thoothukudi (2 each), Tiruvannamalai, Karur and Chennai (1 each), Beela Rajesh said.
Of the 2,226 samples tested, 234 had turned positive making Tamil Nadu the third largest state with highest number of positive cases behind Maharashtra and Kerala.
Beela Rajesh said following an appeal by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami asking those who attended the Delhi conference to volunteer themselves for checks as finding their address was difficult, more people have reported to the government. About 1,500 people from Tamilnadu attended the meeting, leading to spike in corona cases.
She said so far 1,103 people, who attended the Delhi congregation, have come forward and subjected themselves to medical tests and their families would be isolated to prevent spread of the virus. Of them, samples of 658 people were taken and the samples of the remaining people would be taken and sent for lab tests to ascertain whether they had contracted corona.
The area where the families of these 1,103 people were living were brought under the containment zone under which the 7 km radius from their residence would be marked and officials would check each house to find
out whether anyone have symptoms of COVID infection. She said a total of 77,330 people were under home quarantine in the state and 81 in government hospitals.