Foreigners who participated in the tabligh gathering at Masjid Jamek Sri Petaling were the source of the spread of Covid-19 to hundreds of participants, local participants were quoted as saying by The Malaysian Insight.
The local participants claimed they were free from the virus, after having gone through screening and as such, it was not fair to blame the local participants.
“I don’t think it is fair to blame us all. Some of the attendees may have their own reasons for not going to the hospital, but I can say the majority of us went for health screening.
“It is not the tabligh that spread the virus. Many people attended this programme, including foreigners. They could have been infected while they were on the plane, or at the airport.
“It just happened that they were at a mass gathering,” said a 31-year-old who gave his name as Ali.
He also rebutted news reports on tabligh participants purportedly refusing to go for screening.
“I was there for the three-day programme, and this issue was highlighted by the media a week after the programme ended.
“As soon as the directive was made for us to go to the hospitals, many of us, if not all of us, went for the test.
“I can say that we followed the order, and the majority of us went for a checkup. Maybe there were a few who refused or did not go to the hospital,” said Ali, who is an engineer.
Ali said he said he had been tested negative for Covid-19 but still other people accused him of observing a not self-quarantine when no such instructions were given by the doctors.
“It is not that I refused to lock myself up, but the doctors did not say anything to me. I even asked if I should not go to work, they did not issue a letter. So, I assumed they cleared me of the virus," he said.
“Doctors have different opinions. For example, my friend who attended the same programme was asked to stay indoors, although he showed no flu-like symptoms,” Ali added.
Meanwhile, another participant, who wanted to be known as Aiman, said his tabligh group in Seri Kembangan were cleared by doctors.
“All of us who attended the ijtimak in Masjid Jamek Sri Petaling have gone for screening at various clinics and hospitals.
“I was given a non-high-risk letter by the doctors at a government clinic in Seri Kembangan. They say I can resume work as usual,” he said, adding that the spread of the virus at the event was not their fault.
Aiman also said some clinics and hospitals have different procedures.
“Some with fever were asked to go home and self-quarantine, while others could go to work as usual.
“Yet, some people who went to other clinics were asked to stay indoors, even though they showed no symptoms,” he said.
Some 16,000 people had attended the gathering, including 14,500 Malaysians.
The gathering at Sri Petaling Mosque in Kuala Lumpur brought together missionaries from across the country, who would later return to their hometowns for missionary work.
However, the gathering became a Covid-19 cluster of infection and those returning to their hometowns meant they also brought with them the virus, spreading it across the country.
Yesterday, Malaysia recorded the highest single-day increase of Covid-19 cases, at 190, bringing the total to 428 cases.
It was reported as of 7pm March 14, a total 4,942 participants of tabligh gathering identified and 3,069 were tested with 137 referred to hospitals. - Mkini
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