New Delhi, April 5: The Crime Branch of Delhi Police is using cellphone data to trace persons who attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation held in Nizamuddin last month. The event organised by the religious sect is considered to be the single biggest source of coronavirus transmission across the nation. Catch the live updates on coronavirus outbreak in India and other parts of the world.

Senior police officers, while speaking to reporters, said nearly 9,000 persons from several states and union territories had attended the event held between March 13-15. The congregation also included nearly 200 foreign delegates, who were infected with coronavirus. The Jamaat members who came in contact carried the infection back to their native states. COVID-19 Live Tracker: Map The Spread of Coronavirus in India.

Thousands have been traced for their participation in the Jamaat event by the state governments. The symptomatic patients were sent for treatment, whereas, asymptomatic cases have been shifted to quarantine centres.

Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agrawal, during the press briefing on Saturday, said the task to contain the transmission through the Tablighi event would become more challenging even if one of the attendees is not traced or he refrains from sharing his contact list.

According to reports, the Delhi Police team is using GPS locations for the past couple of days to trace down all the Jamaat event attendees and those who were in vicinity of the Nizamuddin Markaz. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had earlier informed that the investigators would be using mobile phone and cellular data to trace down the suspects.

At least 1,023 out of the total 3,374 cases in India are linked to the Jamaat event. So far, 15 out of the total 79 deaths have been linked to the congregation. Despite the mass spread of virus through the Jamaat event, the Health Ministry has reiterated that India has not transcended into "community transmission" stage of the pandemic.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 05, 2020 05:03 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).