71 people from Bengal who attended Nizamuddin congregation identified: CM

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said her government has identified 71 people from the state who attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi, the biggest hostpot of the COVID-19 outbreak, and 54 of them have been placed under quarantine. "Out of the 54, around 40 people are foreigners. The remaining would also be sent into quarantine today. We are monitoring the situation," Banerjee said at a press conference here.

She refuted reports of six people dying in the state due to COVID-19, asserting the death toll due to the infection was three. "So far, there are 37 cases in Bengal, including three people who have died due to COVID-19. Some media houses for the sake of sensationalising the issue are saying six people have died... It is their imagination. The remaining three persons died because of other health conditions," she said.

The chief minister, however, did not clarify whether the three others contracted coronavirus. The Trinamool Congress supremo again urged people to stay indoors, saying the next two weeks would be the most crucial phase of the 21-day lockdown.

"There is no need to rush and create a commotion outside shops; there would be regular supply of essentials," she added. On Wednesday, more than 375 fresh cases of COVID-19 emerged pushing the overall tally to close to 1,900. Authorities attributed the big spike in the numbers largely to the Tablighi Jamaat, an orthodox Muslim society set up nearly 100 years ago as a religious reform movement and to spread the faith.

More than 5,000 of those identified to have attended the congregation have been quarantined across states..