A single mass gathering resulted in massive transmission of COVID-19 infections in Malaysia with further international spread

Nor Fazila Che Mat; Hisham Atan Edinur; Mohammad Khairul Azhar Abdul Razab; Sabreena Safuan

doi:10.1093/jtm/taaa059

A single mass gathering resulted in massive transmission of COVID-19 infections in Malaysia with further international spread

J Travel Med. 2020 May 18;27(3):taaa059. doi: 10.1093/jtm/taaa059.

Authors

Nor Fazila Che Mat¹, Hisham Atan Edinur¹, Mohammad Khairul Azhar Abdul Razab¹, Sabreena Safuan¹

Affiliation

¹ School of Health Sciences, Health Campus Universiti Sains Malaysia, 16150 Kubang Kerian, Malaysia.

Abstract

Malaysia has recorded the highest number of COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asia with more than 35% of new COVID-19 cases linked to the Sri Petaling gathering, a Moslem missionary movement attended by more than 19 000 people of different nationalities, in March 2020 in Kuala Lumpur. From this cluster, 1701 samples have been tested positive out of 21 920 tests carried out. Thus, mass gathering during COVID-19 pandemic period should be banned to curb disease transmission.

MeSH terms

COVID-19
Coronavirus Infections / epidemiology*
Crowding*
Disease Outbreaks*
Humans
Islam
Malaysia / epidemiology
Pandemics
Pneumonia, Viral / epidemiology*
Travel