Indonesia halts Islamic assembly

Indonesia halted a mass congregation of nearly 9,000 Muslim pilgrims and began quarantining them and checking their health yesterday to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus amid a spike in cases. The four-day gathering at a boarding school in a rural area in south Sulawesi province wasn’t approved by authorities and drew fears it could spread the virus widely in the world’s fourth most populous nation.

It was organized by a Muslim missionary movement, Jamaat Tabligh, which held a similar event in Malaysia three weeks ago that has been linked to nearly two-thirds of that country’s 900 infections as well as dozens of cases in other nations.

South Sulawesi Gov. Nurdin Abdullah said medical teams screening more than 8,600 participants found a local man with fever who was taken to a hospital.

“We’ve worked hard in dealing with this issue, involving religious leaders and security forces. We have told the pilgrims that we are in an emergency state of coronavirus and only common discipline can break the COVID-19′s wide spread,” Abdullah said.

Indonesia halts Islamic assembly

Indonesia halted a mass congregation of nearly 9,000 Muslim pilgrims and began quarantining them and checking their health yesterday to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus amid a spike in cases. The four-day gathering at a boarding school in a rural area in south Sulawesi province wasnt approved by authorities and drew fears it could spread the virus widely in the worlds fourth most populous nation. It was organized by a Muslim missionary movement, Jamaat Tabligh, which held a similar event in Malaysia three weeks ago that has been linked to nearly two-thirds of that countrys 900 infections as well as dozens of cases in other nations. South Sulawesi Gov. Nurdin Abdullah said medical teams screening more than 8,600 participants found a local man with fever who was taken to a hospital. Weve worked hard in dealing with this issue, involving religious leaders and security forces. We have told the pilgrims that we are in an emergency state of coronavirus and only common discipline can break the COVID-19s wide spread, Abdullah said.