MOH: About 14,500 M’sians went to tabligh event, up from 5,000

CORONAVIRUS | The Ministry of Health has tripled its estimation of the number of Malaysian attendees at a religious event at Sri Petaling Mosque linked to dozens of Covid-19 cases in the region.

Based on its investigation, the ministry said there were an estimated 16,000 attendees at the ijtima’ tabligh at the Kuala Lumpur mosque on Feb 27 to Mar 1.

Of this figure, about 14,500 are believed to be Malaysian, an infographic uploaded by Health director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah last night noted.

Earlier this week, he said the number of attendees was estimated to be 10,000 people, of which half are Malaysian.

Those who attended the event, who spoke to Malaysiakini on condition of anonymity, said this is likely because many Malaysian attendees did not register and walked into the congress.

Six Malaysian cases linked to the tabligh event

The ministry's investigations have also found six Malaysian cases linked to the event - three in Negeri Sembilan, while Sabah, Johor and Pahang have one case respectively.

The Negeri Sembilan cases include a 26-year-old man, who is a student in South Korea and works as a freelance travel agent.

He returned from South Korea on Feb 22, attended the tabligh event from Feb 27 to Mar 1 and developed symptoms on Mar 3. He travelled overseas again on Mar 4 and returned to Malaysia.

The other two cases in Negeri Sembilan involve a man and a woman, but the Health Ministry did not provide details about them. 

However, The Star reported yesterday that a husband and wife, linked to the tabligh event, have been warded pending test results for Covid-19.

Meanwhile, Sabah recorded its first case in Tawau involving a 58-year-old man who attended the religious event.

The Health Ministry is tracing some 350 people from Tawau believed to have attended the event, and have tested 173 people up to yesterday.

The ministry did not provide details for the Johor case linked to the tabligh event. 

On Wednesday, the ministry announced the first Malaysian case found linked to the event - a Pahang man, who was first admitted to hospital for respiratory difficulties. He is now treated at Hospital Tuanku Ampuan Afzan.

He was located through checks of all patients treated for respiratory disease, and was believed to be the first sporadic case.

Testing facilities set up at mosque

The ministry has also set up testing facilities at the Sri Petaling Mosque, while Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of Religious Affairs Zulkifli Mohamad urged all who attended the event to come forward.

It is understood that Malaysian attendees include those from Perlis, Malacca, Johor, Sabah, Sarawak, Perak, Kelantan and Negeri Sembilan.

Foreign attendees include those from Australia, Brunei, Canada, the Philippines, India, Indonesia, South Africa, New Zealand, Tunisia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, China, Germany, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Egypt, Tanzania, Gambia, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, the United States and Afghanistan.

As of yesterday, Brunei reported 12 Covid-19 cases while Singapore reported two cases related to the tabligh event.

Indonesia reported two cases who just returned from Malaysia but it is unclear if they attended the gathering.

The first known case related to the event is a Brunei man, who had traveled via Miri.

Sri Petaling Mosque Committee deputy chairman Mohd Salleh Abd Mubin yesterday said this meant the man could have been infected in the plane and not at the mosque. - Mkini