Officials have placed 28 Tambora, West Jakarta residents on the People Under Surveillance (ODP) list after they took part in a congregational prayer led by a neighborhood chief who was previously diagnosed with COVID-19.
According to reports, the neighborhood leader, who is identified as an 82-year-old man with the initial O, tested positive for coronavirus infection on Friday, likely from direct contact with his son, who had also previously tested positive and then recovered from the disease.
However, O rejected his diagnosis and refused to be placed in isolation at a local hospital.
“He felt healthy and said, ‘I only have typhoid fever symptoms,’ so he did not agree with what the doctor said,” Tambora District Head Bambang Sutama said yesterday.
Bambang said O insisted on holding the Taraweeh prayer with a congregation at the neighborhood’s musalla (prayer hall) on Saturday evening. Though the musalla has a resident imam, O reportedly led some of the prayer.
Following the prayer, 28 people who attended the prayer were placed on the ODP list and have been instructed to self-isolate at home. Health officials have carried out swab tests on all subjects, but the results have yet to be publicized as of today.
Taraweeh is an evening prayer that can only be performed during the holy month of Ramadan. Though it’s not obligatory, it is advisable to perform the prayer in a congregation at the mosque. However, with the Large-Scale Social Restrictions (PSBB) protocol regulating that houses of worship must close amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Islamic leaders have urged Muslims to perform the Taraweeh prayer at home instead.
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