Coronavirus: how Malaysia’s Sri Petaling mosque became a Covid-19 hotspot
- Gathering at complex on outskirts of Kuala Lumpur has emerged as source of hundreds of new infections across Southeast Asia
- Nearly two-thirds of Malaysia’s cases linked to four-day meeting
Worshippers slept in packed tents outside the golden-domed mosque, waking before dawn to kneel on rows of prayer mats laid out in its cavernous central hall. All the while, the coronavirus was passing unnoticed among the guests.
The Muslim gathering held at the end of last month at a sprawling mosque complex on the outskirts of Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur has emerged as a source of hundreds of new coronavirus infections spanning Southeast Asia.
A 34-year-old Malaysian man who attended the event died on Tuesday, Malaysia’s Minister of Health Adham Baba said, the first death linked to the February 27-March 1 event at the Sri Petaling mosque compound.
It was attended by 16,000 people, including 1,500 foreigners.
Out of Malaysia’s 673 confirmed coronavirus cases, nearly two-thirds are linked to the four-day meeting, Adham said. It is not clear who brought the virus there in the first place.
Reuters spoke to six attendees and reviewed pictures and posts on social media, and the accounts and evidence showed several ways in which the outbreak could have spread.