Church and wedding gatherings among Covid-19 clusters in Malaysia

CORONAVIRUS | A church gathering in Sarawak and a wedding in Bangi are among several Covid-19 clusters in the country.

This is on top of the Tabligh gathering in Sri Petaling, which took place on Feb 27 until March 1 and attended by some 16,000 people, which has become the epicentre of the Covid-19 outbreak in the country.

The three-day church gathering dubbed the "Good News Fellowship Conference" in Kuching, Sarawak, which took place from February 26 to February 28, has led to 83 confirmed infections with two deaths and five in critical condition.

Meanwhile, the wedding in Bangi which took place on March 6 to 7 had led to 88 Covid-19 infections with one currently in the intensive care unit.

Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah had previously said the spread of Covid-19 at the wedding was believed to have started from people who had attended the Sri Petaling gathering a week earlier.

As the wedding was between a doctor and a nurse, many Health Ministry staff had attended the event and those who caught the virus there subsequently sparked a smaller cluster at the Teluk Intan hospital where 44 people were infected.

Noor Hisham said the incidences highlighted the impact of mass gatherings.

"Mass gatherings have a drastic impact on the rise of Covid-19 cases in Malaysia," he told a press conference in Putrajaya today.

He said both the church and wedding events had spread to the fifth generation.

A fifth-generation spread means the virus has jumped from a person to a different person for five consecutive times.

The church cluster had led to Sarawak Assistant Transport Minister Jerip Susil to become infected with Covid-19 as his maid had attended the event.

However, Noor Hisham said he believes that both clusters have been contained.

He said the Sri Petaling gathering remains the largest cluster, involving 42.8 percent of the total Covid-19 infections, followed by the church and wedding gatherings.

[More to follow] - Mkini