Up to 14,500 Malaysians went to tabligh event instead of 5,000, says Ministry of Health

KUALA LUMPUR (March 13): The Ministry of Health (MOH) has revealed that up to 16,000 people attended that ijtima’ tabligh event at Sri Petaling Mosque from Feb 27 to March 1.

And of the 16,000, about 14,500 were Malaysians, instead of the lower figure of 5,000 announced a few days ago.

That event has now been known to be linked to a number of COVID-19 cases in Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore.

Singapore’s Ministry of Health yesterday confirmed nine more cases of COVID-19 infection in the republic, with two connected to the Sri Petaling Mosque gathering.

Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah posted the figures with an infographic on his Facebook yesterday about the latest findings.

MOH also found that six Malaysians who have been infected are connected to the same religious gathering.

Three are from Negeri Sembilan, one in Sabah, one in Pahang and one in Johor.

The Sabah case is the first for the state.

Malaysiakini reported that local attendees of the ijtima’ tabligh came from Perlis, Melaka, Johor, Sabah, Sarawak, Perak, Kelantan and Negeri Sembilan.

Meanwhile MOH has set up testing facilities at the Sri Petaling Mosque.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of Religious Affairs Zulkifli Mohamad has also called on all those who attended the event to report to the authorities.

“Our teams are on site working round the clock conducting the Mass Screening of COVID-19 at Masjid Jamek Seri Petaling, Kuala Lumpur over the last two days. We have full cooperation from all parties namely the participants, staff and students,” Dr Noor Hisham said in his Facebook posting.