Following news of a Bruneian man who later tested positive for Covid-19 having attended a religious gathering of about 10,000 at a mosque in Sri Petaling recently, many have called for mass gatherings, including at religious functions, to be stopped temporarily. 

Taking heed of this and the Health Department’s call for the postponement of all mass gatherings, as well as the case of three parishioners of a church in Puchong having contracted Covid-19, the Catholic church in Peninsular Malaysia has decided to suspend the Mass until March 29. 

This includes daily Mass and is extended to all public functions and religious classes. A pastoral letter from the catholic bishops of Peninsular Malaysia said Catholics were exempted from attending Sunday masses, but added that they could watch a broadcast of the mass which would be televised on the archdiocese of KL’s website. 

Malaysia has just over a million Catholics, a third of its population of Christians. For Catholics, attendance at Mass on Sundays is obligatory and an exemption such as this is a very big deal.

This is also the Christian season of Lent, a six-week period that culminates in Easter, and which is considered the holiest period in the Christian calendar. It’s marked by fasting, abstinence, almsgiving, and prayer. So yeah, cancelling Masses now just shows how seriously the church is taking this second (and bigger) wave of infections. 

This is in contrast to Minister in the PM’s Department in charge of Islamic Affairs Zulkifli Mohamad, who said Friday prayers would carry on for now as the situation as yet didn’t warrant a suspension of religious obligations. However, he did say the weekly khutbah would be shortened. Considering the millions who attend Friday prayers around the country, not cancelling prayers may not be the best move. 

Perlis seems to have taken the lead on this though, with the Raja Muda announcing that this Friday’s prayers will be replaced with Zohor prayers at homes instead. 

In Singapore too, mosque activities have been suspended after the fatwa committee gave the green light for this to happen. Singapore’s Catholics had earlier been exempted from mass by the church hierarchy there, though this is due to end this weekend. 

Ultimately, we’ll need to come to some kind of landing on this – whether it’s through the Council of Rulers or through a fatwa of some sort. But with entire countries going into lockdown, the seriousness of this matter escalates every day.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry says a further nine cases of Covid-19 infection have been detected in Malaysia, bringing the total number to 158. It also said that Patient 131, earlier said to be a sporadic case (one which didn’t seem to be connected to any of the other cases) had now been identified as being linked to the same religious gathering as that of the Bruneian man – a religious gathering which some are still insisting isn’t the cause of the infection.

Six more patients have been discharged, bringing the number of recoveries to 32. Danish citizens have also been placed on Malaysia’s “no entry” list following the Scandinavian country’s decision to go into lockdown. Denmark joins Italy, Iran and South Korea on the Do Not Pass Go list.

A host of other Covid-19 related news reports came out yesterday, and to make things easier for you, we include these in brief:

• The Selangor government has cancelled several public functions, but will continue with events deemed critical. 
   
• The Health Ministry is ramping up preparations for more cases, with Sungai Buloh Hospital slowly closing down some wards to make room for the isolation and treatment of coronavirus patients. All other cases which are not related to Covid-19 will be referred to other health facilities. 
   
• Even the 1MDB graft trial of former PM Najib Razak has been affected, with his entire defence team putting themselves in quarantine after lead counsel Shafee Abdullah came to know that he had come in contact with a person who had direct contact with a Covid-19 infected person. The trial judge wants proof though, so Jibby ain’t getting off the hook that easily.
   
• The education ministry has postponed all sports and co-curricular activities in schools indefinitely. And while the upcoming school break would usually be a time of big business for tourism, concerns over Covid-19 are expected to lead to RM150 million in losses this time. The airline industry has also been deeply affected. Both Malaysia Airlines and Malindo Air have asked employees to take unpaid leave due to the losses incurred from the virus outbreak. 
   
• With all the depressing news going around, here’s one little report that warms the heart a little. A few Malaysian nurses have done their bit to help curb the spread of Covid-19 by coming up with a short video clip featuring them dancing out the proper way to cough safely, to the music of Icona Pop’s Emergency.