IPOH, April 1 — Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the government is working closely with India to track the Malaysian citizens who attended a Muslim religious event in New Dehli from March 13 to 15.

He said that the government is trying to identify those who attended the religious meeting held at Tabligh-e-Jamaat’s Markaz, which is located in a dense Nizamuddin area.

"We are trying to find the information by contacting our counterparts in India, but it is not easy,” he told a press conference this evening.

"We have a few leads and hopefully we would be able to locate them. However, I can’t share the intelligence we have and the technology information we used to check them,” he added. 

When asked whether this group could create a new Covid-19 cluster, the Health DG said it was possible.

"The International Health Regulations via its committee will look for the Covid-19 positive cases. Just like how we detect some of our foreign workers.

"For example, if a foreigner tested positive we will inform their respective country. So it is the same there. If they detect any cases, they will share the information with us. It is the collaboration of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) network,” he said. 

The religious centre has emerged as one of India’s Covid-19’s hotspots, with at least six deaths and 37 positive cases found as of yesterday.

Some 441 people from the centre are being tested for Covid-19 and 1,107 others have been placed under quarantine.