Coronavirus cases in India: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal ordered a police case against the Markaz Nizamuddin mosque administration over negligence that has endangered hundreds of lives. A religious gathering at a mosque in Delhi has been linked to seven coronavirus deaths and 200 people with symptoms linked to COVID-19 are being tested. Early this morning, the Markaz Nizamuddin – the Delhi headquarters of the Tablighi Jamaat — was sealed and 850 people moved out in buses are quarantined in different parts of the city.
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Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal yesterday ordered a police case against the mosque administration over negligence that has endangered hundreds of lives.
Of 25 new coronavirus cases reported in Delhi on Monday, 18 were from “Markaz Nizamuddin”, as Tablighi Jamaat calls the headquarters.
Ignoring all social distancing rules to avoid the deadly coronavirus, hundreds had been staying in the 100-year-old mosque complex, which has a six-floor dormitory, since a two-day gathering of the Tablighi Jamaat earlier this month. Tablighi Jamaat is an Islamic missionary movement set up in 1926, with members across the world.
Six people from Indonesia who attended the gathering, have died in Telangana and one man died in Srinagar.
Ten more who returned to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands have tested positive.
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The gathering, which featured sermons, was attended by Tablighi members from Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Nepal, Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan and Saudi Arabia. Members had also come from Afghanistan, Algeria, Djibouti, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, England, Fiji, France and Kuwait.
Many of those who attended then travelled to other parts of the country. The Indonesians, for instance, went to southern states like Telangana.
The Srinagar preacher who died last week had visited the Deoband seminary in Uttar Pradesh and on his return to Kashmir, held multiple gatherings.
Contact tracing from the mosque gathering, which has been identified as a virus hotspot, has been given high priority by the home ministry, according to sources.
Tablighi members reportedly told the police about the congregation on March 24. At the time, there were around 1,200 people inside the mosque complex. A day later, they were taken to the airport by the police.
But on March 26, two days into the national lockdown ordered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, people started gathering again. There were close 2,000 by the time the police found out. They were asked to stay put and not go anywhere as all transport had been cancelled.
Some 280 of those inside were foreigners.
Yesterday, 200 people were taken to hospitals with symptoms of COVID-19.
In a statement, Markaz Nizamuddin said they had cancelled the event when PM Modi announced the “Janata Curfew” for March 22. “However, due to sudden cancelation of rail services across the country on March 21, a large group of visitors who had to depart by way of railways got stuck in the Markaz premises,” the statement claimed. After that, it said, lockdowns ordered first by the Delhi government and then by the PM made it “impossible” for the stranded visitors to stay anywhere but in the Markaz.
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