Mumbai Police probing suspected Markaz connection in first Dharavi COVID-19 death

The Mumbai Police is investigating whether there is a connection between the first COVID-19 death in the Dharavi area here and the congregation at Tablighi Markaz in Delhi's Nizamuddin last month.

Mumbai Police officials on Saturday said that it is searching for a group of 10 people who returned to the city after attending the Nizamuddin congregation, and allegedly came in contact with the 56-year-old man who died after testing positive for coronavirus.

According to officials, the group had stayed in the Dharavi area for a few days after returning from Delhi.

The residence of the Dharavi coronavirus patient has been sealed and all the residents have been quarantined, officials said.

According to sources, a major challenge mounts ahead for Maharashtra Police as around 150 persons who attended the congregation are yet to be located in the state.

No one who attended the Nizamuddin congregation has been found positive in Mumbai.

Maharashtra Health Department officials have said that around 1,225 people who attended the Tablighi Markaz in Delhi's Nizamuddin last month have come to Maharashtra, out of which 1,033 have been located.

Officials said that 738 of them have been quarantined and seven have tested positive for COVID-19 so far. The seven infected persons were found two each in Pune, Ahmednagar, and Pimpri Chinchwad and one in Sangli.

Notably, several people who attended the congregation in Nizamuddin have tested positive for coronavirus across the country.

The country is under a 21-day lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus, which according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has claimed the lives of 68 people and infected a total of 2,902 as on Saturday morning.