Health authorities in Tamil Nadu are worried about the health status of about 1,500 people from Tamil Nadu, who reportedly attended a Tablighi Jamaat conference in Nizamuddin, Delhi. They are equally concerned about the possibility of cases spreading from these people.
Sources said there is just cause for alarm as a high percentage of those who were tested turned out to be coronavirus positive in the group. 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.
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The authorities are even more concerned that they do not have the list of all 1,500 people who attended the conference. They have a list of 819 names and are testing all those they managed to identify, sources added.
It is understood that people from Tiruchi, Perambalur, Ariyalur, Erode, Pudukottai and Nagapattinam were among those who attended the meeting.
The sources said police were trying to trace the rest as well, but time is of the essence.
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Intensive investigations are under way in the community to identify those who went for the conference. Of the eight who tested positive on March 29, four patients — 47, 48, 49, and 50 — were all from Erode, the government’s release said. They have been admitted to IRT Medical College and hospital, Perundurai.
Officials said those who attended the meeting should come forward and declare that they had been to the conference, since a number of those who travelled with them or attended the conference with them tested positive.
“We have to monitor everyone in the group now, given the current situation and appeal to everyone who attended the conference to volunteer information. We want to prevent an explosion of cases,” an official said.