Sarawak records first Covid-19 cases with three linked to KL tabligh event

CORONAVIRUS | Sarawak today reported its first positive Covid-19 diagnoses with three cases linked to a religious gathering at the Sri Petaling Mosque in Kuala Lumpur.

The Sarawak Disaster Management Committee said of the three cases, two were from the cluster which attended the ijtima’ tabligh at the mosque on Feb 27 to Mar 1, while the third is a family member.

“Therefore, we are appealing to all who attended the gathering and who are in Sarawak to immediately contact the nearest hospitals for Covid-19 investigation.

“So far, the Sarawak Health Department has tracked 236 participants and will continue to track the remaining,” the committee chairperson Douglas Unggah said in a statement.

It was initially thought that 10,000 participants from various countries attended the ijtima’ tabligh, of which half were Malaysians. The gathering was linked to Brunei’s first recorded coronavirus case.

The Health Ministry has since nearly doubled that estimation, with a possible 16,000 now thought to have attended the event. Of these, 14,500 are believed to be Malaysians.

Meanwhile, Sabah recorded its second case in the state.

According to Sabah’s Daily Express, the 42-year-old Papar man, just like the state’s first case from Tawau, is also believed to have attended the KL gathering.

The man was tested in Papar Hospital on Thursday night and was transferred to Queen Elizabeth Hospital for treatment.

As of yesterday, the number of coronavirus cases in Malaysia stood at 158 from which 32 people have recovered and been discharged from hospital.

Malaysia has also issued a blanket travel ban on citizens of Denmark, Italy, Iran and South Korea and travellers arriving from those countries.

Italy, Iran and South Korea are among the worst-hit countries outside of China, while Denmark went into lockdown after registering a 10-fold increase of over 500 cases.

Travel restrictions on arrivals from Hubei, Zhejiang and Jiangsu in China as well as Hokkaido, Japan, also remain.

Over 130,000 people have been infected worldwide with over 4,900 deaths. - Mkini