More than 10,000 Sri Petaling mosque event participants traced, with 513 having COVID-19, says Health DG

KUALA LUMPUR (March 19): In the latest update of the COVID-19 situation, Health Director-General Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has revealed that more than 10,000 participants of the ‘tabligh’ event at the Sri Petaling mosque that took place from Feb 27 to March 1 have been checked.

So far, 513 among the participants have tested positive for COVID-19.

“#Covid-19: Up until 12 midnight March 19, 2020, 10,553 of the tabligh congregants that attended the gathering at Masjid Jamek Seri Petaling have been checked, 4,986 samples taken and 513 positive,” Dr Noor Hisham wrote in a Facebook posting today.

He also continued to call on those who attended the mass religious event to go for testing for the corona virus if they still have not.

“One of the tabligh congregants aged 34 has died the day before. The Ministry of Health urges tabligh congregants that have yet to come forward for checks to come forward to be checked by the ministry,” he added.

Earlier reports have stated that about 16,000 people participated in the mass tabligh event with many from other countries.

Some COVID-19 cases in Brunei, Singapore and Cambodia have now been linked to the event.

As for the 513 positive cases in Malaysia resulting from the religious gathering, Sabah has 91, Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya with 75, Johor (53), Selangor (40), Sarawak (38), Negri Sembilan (33), Kedah (31), Pahang (29), Kelantan, Perak, Penang with 28 positive cases each, Melaka (17), Terengganu (10), Perlis (7), and federal territory Labuan (5).

Meanwhile, a similar tabligh event planned in South Sulawesi province has been postponed over fears of the COVID-19 spread.

It was reported earlier that provincial authorities had been persuading the organisers to halt the event at Gowa near Makassar city after a similar event in Malaysia led to hundreds of infections.

The head of Gowa regency, Adnan Purichta Ichsan, said on social media late yesterday that the organisers had "finally agreed" to postpone the event, Reuters reported.