Participants at a religious congregation in Malaysia last month spent all day learning religious teachings. They prayed shoulder-to-shoulder, ate meals together and slept on narrow mattresses for three days.
The meeting was attended by guests from Cambodia, Indonesia, Nigeria, and India, among others, totaling around 16,000 guests. But, little did they know that their expression of faith was putting them at risk.
At least 23 Cambodians, of the 79 who traveled for the event, have tested positive for the novel coronavirus in the last seven days – most attended the religious congregation, organized by the Tablighi Jamaat missionary movement, and others contracting the virus from returnees.
