Malaysian authorities are tracking down about 5,000 citizens dispersed throughout the peninsular after they attended a religious event in the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur and were believed to have been potentially exposed to the coronavirus.

The health ministry said on March 11 that contact tracing was initiated after neighbouring Brunei reported its first case of coronavirus infection on Tuesday, March 10.

A 53-year-old man had attended the same event at a mosque between Feb. 27 and March 1.

10,000 people involved

"Based on preliminary information, the religious event involved an estimated 10,000 people from several countries including Malaysia," the ministry's Secretary-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said.

"The health ministry urges all who had attended the event to cooperate with health officials to ensure Covid-19 does not continue to spread in their communities."

Malaysia reported 20 new cases of coronavirus infection on March 11.

There were 149 cases in Malaysia by that day.

An entry ban was subsequently imposed in response to all Iranian, Italian and South Korean nationals due to the coronavirus outbreak in those three countries.

Malaysians returning from Iran, Italy and South Korea would be quarantined for 14 days, Health Minister Adham Baba said.

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