KOTA KINABALU, March 12 — Sabah health authorities are urging Sabahans who attended an Islamic missionary gathering in Sri Petaling earlier this month to seek testing for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
Declining to confirm rumours that some 2,000 Sabahans from Tawau were at the event between February 27 and March 1, Sabah Health and People’s Wellbeing Minister Frankie Poon said he did not have the information available.
Instead, he advised those who returned to the state and exhibiting symptoms such as flu and fever to immediately seek treatment and testing.
“Contact the clinic or hospital and please go for the screening. Those with no symptoms are advised to put themselves under home quarantine and at the same time inform the health department about where they have been.
“But my advice to the general public is not to panic,” he told reporters here today, saying that believing in rumours on social media would only create unnecessary fear.
“Any official information will be announced or relayed to the media,” he said.
There have been text messages circulating with claims about the number of Sabahans who attended the event, some of which have yet to be screened.
Tawau health department officer Dr G. Navindran was yesterday reported saying that about 350 state residents attended the tabligh gathering, urging them to go for a screening.
“If the person could bring it to Brunei, then of course other attendees may also be exposed, not only those from Tawau,” she told local reporters.
Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said a 60-year-old Malaysian man,had attended the gathering and was tested positive for the virus on March 10, becoming the 131st case of Covid-19 in Malaysia.
He was among 10,000 who attended the religious gathering.
This morning, Brunei reported a spike of 10 cases, all of which are related to the event in Sri Petaling.
Malaysians who attended the event should contact the Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre via its hotline at 03-8881 0200.
