The apex court pulled up the Centre for its "evasive" and "brazen" affidavit on the issue.
MHA said that about 2,000 such Tablighi Jamaat members in Delhi, 1,804 have been shifted to quarantine centres while 334 symptomatic persons have been admitted to hospitals
Yusuf Khan, the accused, was the one who took a screenshot of Kolhe's message supporting suspended Bharatiya Janata Party leader Nupur Sharma and instigated others to target him, the agency told a special NIA court in New Delhi in a written reply to the bail plea.
The bench also noted that while the Maharashtra police acted mechanically in the case, the state government acted under 'political compulsion'.
"Rigorous contact tracing is on across the 17 states which have reported cases related to Tablighi Jamaat congregation," the health ministry official said.
"Because, we can recover from the economic problem. But, we cannot recover lives. We cannot recover the lives of the people," he told reporters in Hyderabad.
Authorities across states have identified more than 6,000 people who attended the Nizamuddin Tablighi Jamaat congregation, the biggest COVID-19 hotspot in India.
'The situation is so bad that they are now sleeping on bridges or footpaths.' 'Therefore, they want to go and die before their parents or wife in case they get infected with COVID-19.' 'Workers don't want to die a dog's death in cities.'
On April 10, the Union health ministry praised the 'Agra Model' for fighting the coronavirus pandemic. On April 27, the city reported 32 hotsposts and 365 confirmed COVID-19 cases.
As per the ministry's updated data on coronavirus cases Saturday morning, six fresh deaths were reported -- three from Maharahtra, two from Delhi and one from Gujarat.
