"Let's not stigmatise the tabligh congregants"- Health DG

Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has called on the public not to stigmatise the tabligh congregants and avoid discriminating against them for being linked to the transmission of COVID-19.

Instead, he urged Malaysians to help control the spread of the outbreak.

"With reference to the COVID19, the infection rate (of the congregants) is 20 per cent of the total. (However), let's not blame the tabligh congregants. Let's not discriminate against them.

"What is important is that we assist, detect and control COVID-19 among the congregants and their contacts," he said at a press conference here on Tuesday.

Dr Noor Hisham was referring to a gathering of the tabligh congregants at the Sri Petaling Mosque which took place from February 27 to March 1.

He added the efforts to address the first wave of COVID-19 clusters were simple as it related to the citizens of China.

However, it is currently different as the second wave of COVID-19 involved several clusters. It includes efforts to identify the COVID-19 infection chain involving the tabligh congregants.

"What's more important is that there are smaller clusters and we are looking at the first, second and third generation clusters in relation to the tabligh congregants.

"That's why 986 congregants have been identified as COVID-19 positive and may infect the first, second and third generations. We have a chain of infection and possibly a fourth-generation infection," he said.