Indonesia halts Islamic assembly, quarantining 9,000 people

MAKASSAR, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia halted a mass congregation of nearly 9,000 Muslim pilgrims and began quarantining and checking their health Thursday to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.

The four-day gathering that was to open later Thursday at a boarding school in a rural area in south Sulawesi island wasn't approved by authorities and drew fears it could widely spread the virus in the world's fourth most populous nation.

It was organized by Jamaat Tabligh, a Muslim missionary movement that held a similar mass event in Malaysia just three weeks ago that has been linked to nearly...

 

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