Health ministry declares end of Malaysia’s biggest cluster

PUTRAJAYA, July 8 – Malaysia’s biggest COVID-19 cluster that originated from the Seri Petaling Mosque tabligh gathering has recorded zero cases and, thus, declared to have ended today, said Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

He said the cluster was detected following a religious gathering at the mosque, which was held from Feb 27 to March 3, and which was attended by 16,000 participants comprising 14,500 Malaysians and 1,500 foreigners from various countries.

“The Ministry of Health (MOH) is happy to announce that the biggest COVID-19 cluster in Malaysia, which is the Seri Petaling gathering, is declared to have ended today.

“The first COVID-19 positive cases from this cluster in the country were reported on March 11 (a week after the gathering ended), which were cases 131 and 136 involving Malaysians from Pahang and Negeri Sembilan who attended the gathering,” he said at a COVID-19 news conference here today.

Dr Noor Hisham said there was a big possibility that this cluster originated from overseas and then spread within the community through close contacts during the mass gathering’s activities. – BERNAMA