ONE in 10 of those who attended the Sri Petaling Mosque tabligh event and screened tested positive for Covid-19, Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said today.

This represents 743 of the 6,700 samples taken from tabligh attendees to date, he told a press conference.

“We have managed to trace 11,000 of them. 

“Out of the 11,000, we have done the sampling for almost 6,700.

“This works out to one out of ten people screened who have tested positive.”

The tabligh event at Masjid Jamek Sri Petaling was held from February 27 to March 1.

The Health Ministry estimates that some 14,500 Malaysians and 1,500 foreigners attended the event, in which participants camped in tents and ate from shared plates.

Noor Hisham said the ministry is concerned that the coronavirus could spread among the attendees and he had personally engaged with leaders of the movement to explain the situation and challenges.

He reiterated calls for attendees to come forward and get screened.

“We need to find them, we need to test them, isolate them and we need to treat them,” he added.

Of Malaysia’s 10 deaths to date, the ministry has identified six from the tabligh cluster. The others were a pastor, a mother and daughter pair, and a doctor.

Malaysia’s total number of infections as of today is 1,306, an increase of 123 cases from yesterday.

A graphic issued by the ministry today also showed that of the 1,306 total infections, 820 or 62% of the total, are from the tabligh cluster. – March 22, 2020.