Coronavirus | Government Urges Countrymen To Avoid Religious Gathering As Total COVID-19 Cases Mount To 1,637

The Health Ministry on Wednesday informed that the coronavirus cases in India have mounted to 1,637 with 386 new positive cases reported since yesterday. "Till now, there are 1637 COVID19 cases, including 386 new positive cases since yesterday. There've been 38 deaths. 132 people have recovered. The number of positive cases have gone up since yesterday," Lav Aggarwal said. On Nizamuddin congregation, the health ministry said that one of the reasons for the spike in the number of positive cases in India is the travel by the members of Tablighi Jamat.

"1800 people related to Tablighi Jamaat have been sent to 9 hospitals and quarantine centers. The recent rise in cases does not represent a national trend," the health ministry said. While addressing the media, Lav Aggrawal said that the Railways is preparing to set up 3.2 lakh isolation and quarantine beds by modifying 20000 coaches. Modification of 5000 coaches has begun. Lifeline flights have been started to transport essential commodities like testing kits, medicines and masks.

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The ICMR also briefed the media and said that they have conducted 47,951 tests till date. He also added that ICMR has 126 labs in their network and 51 more private labs have been approved.

"Supreme Court has said that misinformation needs to be checked. For that, we've created email id technicalquery.covid19@gov.in through which a joint secretary-rank officer of Health Ministry and specialized doctors of AIIMS will provide technical support," Lav Aggarwal said.

Meanwhile, an active member of Tablighi Jamaat, who had attended the Delhi meeting of the organization, died at a private hospital in Hyderabad. There was no information or confirmation yet on the cause of death. Ahmed Abdul Muqeet died at Yashoda Hospital at Malakpet late on Tuesday.

A hospital spokesman told IANS that the state health authorities had collected samples from the body for coronavirus test and it is for them to announce if he died of Covid-19. Muqeet was under treatment at the private hospital for pneumonia and other ailments. His wife was also under treatment at the same hospital. The couple took ill four days ago and was admitted to the hospital. If confirmed, the death will be the seventh COVID-19 in Telangana.

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All of them had attended the meeting held at Tablighi headquarters in Nizamuddin area in southwest Delhi from March 15-17. The death of five was announced on Monday whereas the first death was reported on Saturday last. Four of them died in Hyderabad and two others in Nizamabad and Gadwal. More than 1,000 people from Telangana are believed to have attended the meeting, which also had participants from other countries.

(With agency inputs)