95 per cent of tabligh members have come forward for COVID-19 screening - IGP

Ninety-five per cent of the participants who attended the tabligh gathering at the Sri Petaling Mosque recently have come forward to undergo COVID-19 tests and screenings, according to Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Bador.

He said, the remaining five per cent, however, were still being tracked down.

“In this regard, the police have set up a task force involving Criminal Investigation Department officers at all district and state levels, in an effort to track down those who attended the gathering at the Sri Petaling Mosque here last month.

“As a result, and in collaboration with the Ministry of Health (MOH), the task force was able to get the details of up to 10,000 of them (who attended the tabligh programme) and are still tracking down the others,” he said in a special interview on the 'Selamat Pagi Malaysia’ programme aired on Radio Television Malaysia here, today.

Abdul Hamid said the police were now actively contacting the tabligh members to urge them to inform anyone they knew who had yet to undergo the screening to do so.

“I also urge the public not to discriminate against members of this tabligh group as they have not done anything wrong in this matter (COVID-19 issue) and it could have a negative impact on them.

“Stop criticising, ridiculing and uttering abusive words against the tabligh members.

“They have, in fact, been very cooperative with the police and we were able to get more details from them, which they obtained on their own initiative (by tracking down fellow members),” he said.

Abdul Hamid also urged members of the public to inform the police if they knew of any patient or individual suspected of having COVID-19 in order to assist the MOH. -- BERNAMA