Tablighi Jamaat Headquarters Cleared

29 more occupants test positive, taking the total in Delhi alone to 53; contact tracing under way

- Nikhil M. Babu & Saurabh Trivedi

All occupants of the Tablighi Jamaat headquarters, at the centre of an extensive net of the novel coronavirus transmission, were evacuated by early Wednesday, even as the authorities scrambled to identify and quarantine visitors who had returned home to various parts of the country.

At least 29 more occupants tested positive on Wednesday, taking the total in Delhi alone to 53.

Of around 310 delegates from Kerala, only 60 have returned to the State, and are under quarantine.

The missionary sect’s followers travel extensively, and efforts are on to trace the rest. At least 500 participants from Haryana are in quarantine.

Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba held a videoconference with the Chief Secretaries of all the States.

“Most of them are testing positive. We have so far got only about 15 negative cases. If you put 2,000 people in a closed building, everyone is bound to have it,” a Delhi government official told The