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Not the time to find faults but to take action: Health Min official on Nizamuddin congregation

Amid apprehensions of substantial spread of COVID-19 after a religions congregation in Nizamuddin in the national capital left many infected with the virus, the Health Ministry on Tuesday said it was not the time to find faults and emphasised on implementing containment strategies.

The Delhi Police has cordoned off a major area in Nizamuddin West here where many people showed symptoms of coronavirus and 24 have tested positive after taking part in a religious congregation held earlier this month that was attended by over 2,000 people.

“With respect to the Nizamuddin area, we all need to understand and appreciate that this is not the time to do any fault finding. What is important for us is to take action as per our containment process in any area where a positive case gets reported,” Agarwal said in response to a question on whether there was an “intelligence failure” on the administration”s part to prevent the religious mass gathering.

He further said the Delhi government is already taking necessary action by sending suspected symptomatic cases for quarantine or hospitalisation after conducting their health profiling.

Agarwal assured that all necessary measures were being initiated to contain any further spread of the disease in the cluster.

Twenty-four people who took part in the religious congregation have tested positive for novel coronavirus, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said earlier on Tuesday.

He said 700 people who attended the congregation have been quarantined while around 335 people have been admitted to hospitals, and that screening of all those who participated in the event was being conducted by the government.

Over 2,000 delegates, including from Indonesia and Malaysia, attended the congregation after the government banned social gatherings.

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