Chennai: As many as 110 persons, who had attended the religious conference in Tablighi Jamaat at Nizamuddin in Delhi, have tested positive for Covid-19 in a single day in Tamil Nadu. With this the number of corona patients testing positive has climbed to 234 in the state.
Of them, 1 had died and 6 have been discharged post-recovery, Health officials said on Wednesday. In all of the 234 patients, as many as 190 are from the Delhi cluster. Those who tested positive on Wednesday included an Indonesian and Burmese national.
“I would like to thank every person who came forward voluntarily on our appeal for having attended the Delhi conference and they have come into our treatment facilities. We have tested 658 of them, 1103 members have come forward,” Health Secretary Beela Rajesh, told journalists.
Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami had renewed his appeal to the delegates of the Jamaat to turn up for testing. The appeal came against the backdrop of many of the delegates remaining incommunicado with their phones switched off. In some places, health workers faced difficulty in convincing a few participants of the Jamaat to accompany them to the hospital.
“They confronted us asking how could we be sure that they were potential carriers of the virus. We had a tough time explaining that it was in their interest to get themselves tested,” said a Health Department worker.
Meanwhile, in Coimbatore, 5 container truck drivers were detained for attempting to illegally transport 250 migrant workers belonging to Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh from Tamil Nadu. All were workers in the industries in Coimbatore.
