Coronavirus: Philippines seeks 215 who attended Malaysia event

 Authorities are scrambling to trace the Filipinos who attended a religious event in Malaysia which has been linked to a spike in COVID-19 cases in several countries across Southeast Asia. The Tablighi Jamaat congregation held from February 27 to March 1 at the Sri Petaling Mosque on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur drew an estimated 16,000 devotees from about 30 countries.
On its Facebook page, the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) announced that 215 Filipinos attended the four-day religious gathering.
During the event, the attendees prayed together and slept alongside one another inside a mosque, with many others camping in tents pitched outside.
Malaysia recorded its single biggest number of 190 COVID-19 cases on March 15, with a majority of those cases being people who attended the Kuala Lumpur event. Brunei, Singapore and Cambodia have also recorded cases connected with the assembly.
The NCMF said most of the Filipinos who went were from the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), a group of provinces in the southern Philippines.
Due to the limited personal information available, local authorities are depending on those who went to put themselves forward or communities to identify them.
"Some fear they will be rejected by their communities or are afraid of being isolated from their families if they are suspected of having the virus. The current messaging of 'identify and isolate' is scary for many," said BARRM's Interior Minister Naguib Sinarimbo.
Moreover, some attendees may have left undetected through the country's "southern backdoor", the islands closest to Malaysia's maritime border in th Borneo state of Sabah.
On March 13, a Filipino man died after he tested positive for COVID-19. He had travelled to Malaysia, but local authorities were unable to confirm if he attended the Tablighi Jamaat event.
On Thursday, another death was recorded in the BARMM province of Lanao del Sur. His test result released on Friday showed he was positive for COVID-19. He had been to the gathering.
"What we really need now is more test kits to identify the cases," said Sinarimbo.