West Godavari, which was so far unaffected by the contagion of corona virus in Andhra Pradesh, was jolted out of its stupor when the district reported 14 cases in single day on Tuesday.

All the 14 positive cases of corona from West Godavari had attended the Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi’s Nizamuddin area between March 13 and 15. Of the 14, 10 cases were reported in Eluru alone. This takes the total number of Covid-19 infected persons in Andhra Pradesh to 58. An estimated 400 persons might have attended the congregation in the Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi’s Nizamuddin area. The state government has put West Godavari district on high alert. District collectors and police personnel were on the job to locate people who came in contact with them after their return.

The Andhra Pradesh government had set up special teams to track and trace people who attended Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi’s Nizamuddin area, which has become the hotspot of the coronavirus pandemic amid fears that thousands present there could have carried the deadly virus to the length and breadth of the country.

The Arvind Kejriwal government on Tuesday directed the police to book a case against the ‘Maulana’ for organizing the huge religious congregation in Nizamuddin ‘s Markaz Masjid and for violating the government orders on not organising public gatherings and maintaining social distance to contain the Covid-19 outbreak. Over 8,000 people from Indonesia, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Kazaksthan and from various states in India attended the Jamaat.