ALOR SETAR: 15 people who attended prayers at a mosque in Taman Mahsuri, Jitra in Kedah have died within the span of two weeks.
Datuk Dr Mohd Hayati Othman, who is the state Health and Local Government executive committee chairman, said all of them died of Covid-19 infection.
He said the deaths took place two weeks ago after infection spread among mosque-goers in May.
"I can confirm that as of today, a total of 15 people have died. This is the information I obtained from the state health department.
"The virus has been spreading since the emergence of a cluster in Taman Mahsuri, which was placed under the Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) from May 19 to May 21," he said.
He was commenting on a viral message which claimed that 14 members of the Taman Mahsuri mosque had died of Covid-19 within a span of two weeks.
The message came with a 32-second video showing the faces of the deceased.
Dr Mohd Hayati said the deaths only proved that Covid-19 is extremely dangerous and could claim many lives within a short span of time.
"We hope this virus will go away soon. We also hope that the people will continue to register for vaccination so that we can develop herd immunity as soon as possible," he said.
On May 16, Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the Health Ministry had reported a spike in new Covid-19 cases as well as a high infectivity rate in nine localities in Bandar Darulaman and Lubuk Kawah, Jitra.
The localities concerned were Taman Mahsuri 2A, Taman Mahsuri 2B, Taman Mahsuri 2C, Pusat Perniagaan Bandar Barat, Kampung Paya Kerchut, Taman Tunku Anum, Kampung Lubuk Kawah, Taman Desa Tanjung and Taman Desa Darul Aman Mukim Naga.
The Health Ministry had then conducted 207 screenings in the localities, with 94 people having tested positive for the virus.