The Tablighi Jamaat members and their contacts have been quarantined across the country, said the Ministry of Home Affairs. (Express photo by Amit Mehra)

Following a spike in the number of COVID-19 cases in India after members who attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Nizamuddin tested positive, an official from the Ministry of Home Affairs Saturday said that close to 22,000 Tablighi Jamaat members and their contacts have been quarantined across India.

Punya Salila Srivastava, Joint Secretary in the Union Home Ministry, said that all issues pertaining to the pan-India lockdown are being monitored by a 24×7 control room at the MHA and added that the Centre had coordinated with the states to trace the Tablighi Jamaat members and their contacts.

Srivastava further added that 200 National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel and the Central Armed Police Forces are coordinating the same on the ground level.

In a video-conference with the Governors, Lieutenant Governors and Administrators of states/union territories on Friday, President Ram Nath Kovind expressed his concern over the gathering of migrant workers in Anand Vihar and congregation of Tablighi Jamaat in Nizamuddin and said that the two incidents had caused a setback to the efforts to combat the outbreak of COVID-19.

According to a statement released by the Rashtrapathi Bhavan, the President emphasised the need to ensure that no one remains hungry during the nationwide lockdown.

As many as 1,023 COVID-19 positive cases found in 17 states have been traced to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation, the Union Health Ministry said on Saturday, underlining that about 30 per cent of the total coronavirus cases in the country are linked to “one particular place”. Joint Secretary in the ministry Lav Agarwal said in the daily media briefing that the rate of doubling of COVID-19 cases in India is pretty less as compared to other countries. He said a total of 2,902 COVID-19 cases have been reported so far and cases have risen by 601 since Friday.