45 from Karnataka visited Nizamuddin mosque, 1 dead

One of the 45 pilgrims from Karnataka who visited Nizamuddin Jamaat mosque in New Delhi in early March died of COVID-19, said Health Minister B. Sriramulu on Tuesday.

"A religious ceremony was held at the Nizamuddin Jamaat mosque in New Delhi on March 10, which was attended by about 45 people from Karnataka. One of them was a man who died in Sira," tweeted Sriramulu.

Sira is located in Tumakuru district, 123 km north west of Bengaluru.

The pilgrim from Sira was a sexagenarian who passed away on Friday, he was Karnataka's third COVID-19 death.

He was the state's 60th Coronavirus positive case and his 13-year-old son also tested positive on Tuesday as the 84th case.

The Tumakuru man returned from Delhi on a train to Yeshwantpur on March 14 and from there he took a KSRTC bus to reach Sira the same morning.

The deceased man is believed to be one of those Tablighi pilgrims who visited Delhi, further official details are awaited.

According to Sriramulu, 13 of the 45 pilgrims have been identified and quarantined, hinting that the possibility of the infection spreading to all the pilgrims cannot be ruled out.

He said several visitors from Australia, Singapore, Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia visited the Delhi mosque.

The state government is on the lookout for the remaining people who visited the mosque to quarantine and test them.