Tamil Nadu has added 74 fresh cases that have been tested positive for the Coronavirus (COVID-19) on Saturday making the total number of infected cases climb up to 485 so far including the active, recovered, and deceased patients. The state has been witnessing more cases for the past few days and the total tally has put Tamil Nadu in second place in the list of the Indian states with more positive cases.

Tamil Nadu Health Secretary addressed the reporters on Saturday for her daily briefing during which she highlighted the latest developments in the state. She said the state has reported with 74 fresh cases confirmed with the virus and of these 74, 73 patients had attended the Tablighi Jamaat Conference that was organized in Delhi last month. According to the reports, the conference has become the national hotspot.

On March 21st, Tamil Nadu has reported with three cases affected for the virus and within a fortnight, the state has added 480 cases to its count by witnessing the highest single-day rises. On Wednesday, the state has recorded 110 fresh cases which had marked as the highest single-day rise so far and on Thursday, the state added 75 more cases while on Friday, 102 new cases have been reported.

The people who return from Delhi after attending the Jamaat conference had accounted for having a larger part in the total affected cases. According to the Health Secretary, of 485 current cases, 422 have participated in the Jamaat Conference. However, the health department is yet to disclose the nativity of 75 fresh cases and where they have been admitted.

Of 110 cases reported on Wednesday, all of them had attended the Delhi conference while 74 of 75 cases that were reported on Thursday attended the event and 100 of 102 cases reported on Friday had participated in the event. The state government has said that over 1,500 people from the state have attended the event of this strength, 1,100 have returned to the state while the rest have been staying in Delhi due to the lockdown. With the current numbers, Tamil Nadu is the second Indian state with more number of cases for the virus while Maharashtra has crossed 500 cases so far.

Earlier on Thursday, the Health Secretary asserted that all the people who returned from the Delhi conference had come forward and got admitted at the hospitals for the testing and while most of them have tested, some of the tests are under process. According to the reports, the members of Jamaat were closely staying with other participants and preachers who arrived in India from the virus-hit countries following which the human to human transmitting virus has been affecting many people. As of Friday, the Chennai district has reported with 81 cases which is the highest in the state and about 19 districts had been affected by the virus and the first link of the conference reported in the state after two Thailand nationals had tested positive for the virus on March 21st in Erode.

As of Saturday, the state has reported with 485 cases of which 477 are active patients while six have recovered and two people have died and these two fatalities, including the second fatality reported on Saturday, had attended the Delhi conference.

Also read: Corona outbreak: Tamil Nadu reports its second COVID-19 fatality!