Serious Thousands Of Moslems Gathering Again! This Time In Indon! Still Very Determined To Spread Covid Because They Fear Their Allah More!

[JohnTan]

JAKARTA: Thousands of Muslim pilgrims from across Asia gathered in Indonesia on Wednesday (Mar 18), despite fears that their meeting could fuel the spread of a coronavirus, just two weeks after a similar event in Malaysia caused more than 500 infections.

Organisers and regional officials said the event in the world's fourth most populous nation had begun, although the regional police chief said he was making a last ditch-effort to persuade organisers to call it off.

"We are more afraid of God," one of the organisers, Mustari Bahranuddin, told Reuters, when asked about the risk of participants spreading the virus at the event in Gowa in Indonesia's province of South Sulawesi.

"Because everyone's human, we fear illnesses, death," he said. "But there's something more to the body, which is our soul."

Organisers had rejected a formal request from authorities to postpone the gathering, said a regional official, Arifuddin Saeni.

He estimated that 8,695 people had already assembled in Gowa, near the provincial city of Makassar, adding that the numbers would make it hard to put a halt to the proceedings.

"They are still coming," he said. "There are people from Thailand, Arabia, India and the Philippines."

The Malaysian event, held from Feb 27 to Mar 1, drew 16,000 followers.

Both gatherings in Indonesia and Malaysia were organised by members of Tablighi Jama'at, a global movement of evangelical Muslims that promotes proselytising, known as dakwah.

HUNDREDS INFECTED IN MALAYSIA

About two-thirds of Malaysia’s 790 infections have been traced to the meeting at a mosque complex on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, the capital.

Tiny neighbour Brunei has confirmed 50 infections linked to it, while Cambodia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam have also said citizens were infected there.

Organisers in Indonesia were checking pilgrims' temperatures as a precaution, Bahranuddin added. Saeni said health officials had visited the site and asked to monitor participants.

By Wednesday, Indonesia's tally of infections stood at 227, with 19 deaths. The nation of 260 million had run just 1,255 tests by Tuesday. By contrast, South Korea, with a population of a fifth that size, is doing more than 15,000 tests a day.

The Indonesian and Malaysian meetings had been organised by different groups, Bahranuddin said. Even so, he added, "Our purpose is one, even if the name changes, which is how we take religion to other people."

The same social media accounts were used to promote both events. One Facebook account displayed a photograph of a prominent Indian Tablighi cleric, Sheikh Maulana Ibrahim Dewla, leaving Kuala Lumpur airport on Tuesday for the Indonesia event.

Images on the account, Aalmi Tablighi Shura Elders, showed men setting up huge tents at the Indonesia site, and described them as having arrived early from Gulf nations to offer help.

Promotional material for the Indonesian gathering reviewed by Reuters read, "The pleasure of living in this world is only a little, compared to the afterlife."

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/indonesia-covid-19-muslim-pilgrims-gathering-12552630

 

[syed putra]

Thus gathering is not compulsory.it is not even part of Islam.this is a evangelical type of Muslims who gather, exchange ideas on how to propagate their faith and return. Organiser should have cancelled this gathering after KL incident. But I believe Monetary loss may be the result so they continue with it.

 

[syed putra]

Originally Islam does not even have mosques. These were built after the death of the prophet, but historians now cannot even verify if the prophet even existed.

 

[Hypocrite-The]

Why not? They will recover faster again hard immunity. The smart countries are doing it. The dumb ones will just implement policies that shoot themselves in the head.

What is herd immunity and could it slow the spread of coronavirus COVID-19 around the world? - ABC News
Posted 5h
A group of Japanese people walking through a crowd with many wearing face masks
Some governments, including the UK and the Netherlands, have discussed pursuing herd immunity to combat coronavirus.(Reuters: Athit Perawongmetha)
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As the coronavirus pandemic continues to worsen, some governments have started discussing how "herd immunity" could be used to stop the virus in its tracks.

The UK's chief science adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, said on March 13 that one of "the key things" Britain needed to do was "build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission".

Sweden has stopped disclosing its infection rate and made tests available only for hospital staff and at-risk groups.

And Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte says a mass lockdown in his country probably won't work.

He says the Netherlands is looking at a "controlled distribution" of COVID-19 "among groups that are least at risk".

But not everyone is happy about this approach, with some scientists in the UK and Australia describing it as a dangerous farce.

Here's how herd immunity works, and why it's currently causing so much controversy.

Herd immunity can stop an outbreak
Herd immunity means that a large portion of a population becomes infected with a disease, but many recover and are then immune to it.

An outbreak eventually fizzles out because there are fewer viable hosts for the virus to infect.

It's considered one of the main ways to fight an outbreak, along with extreme isolation measures, testing and tracing potential cases, and developing a vaccine.

Historians believe the second wave of the Spanish flu pandemic in mid-1918 was the most devastating because few people became immune to it during the first wave.

A group of nurses wear face masks during the 1919 Spanish Flu outbreak.
There were multiple waves of the Spanish Flu outbreak over several years.(State Library Of Queensland)
Britain's chief science advisor said herd immunity would prevent a similar situation if coronavirus was to disappear but then re-emerge.

Sir Patrick said 60 per cent of Britons — or at least 36 million people — would need to catch COVID-19 for this to work.

The UK Government was eventually forced to backpedal on these comments after an outcry from scientists.

"Herd immunity is not our goal or policy, it's a scientific concept. Our policy is to protect lives and to beat this virus," Health Secretary Matt Hancock said.

Could herd immunity work for coronavirus?
Scientists have been quick to point out that it's not yet known whether people who survive COVID-19 are then resistant to it.

Japanese authorities said on March 16 that a man who recovered from the disease tested positive for COVID-19 again several weeks later.

A cruise ship with a walkway from the door covered in blue tarps
A man who recovered from coronavirus during the Diamond Princess quarantine tested positive again two weeks later, according to Japanese authorities.(Reuters Via Kyodo)
That could have been a testing error.

But Diego Silva, a lecturer in bioethics at the University of Sydney, says we still don't know everything about this virus and the body's response to it.

"Allowing a virus to spread in your country when you don't know whether, or how long it takes for, people to become susceptible a second time to the COVID-19 virus is a risk," he said.

Herd immunity also accepts that some people will die
When discussing herd immunity, the Dutch Prime Minister said vulnerable people would need to be protected.

"This assumes you can actually shield those at risk in the first place, and it's not clear to me that you can," Dr Silva warns.

A woman in a scarf and coat walking through the streets of London
Public health experts say letting the virus infect healthy, strong people puts older, vulnerable people at great risk.(Reuters: Hannah McKay)
Scientists have pointed out that if COVID-19 is allowed to spread, there will be fewer younger people to look after the vulnerable.

"Intentionally allowing the virus to spread requires accepting that people will die in the short term, in part due to hospitals and the health system being overwhelmed," Dr Silva says.

British virologist Professor John Oxford from Queen Mary University of London said letting the virus spread also takes governments into murky ethical waters.

"I feel nerve-wracked about it, I think it's kind of a huge experiment when you're indulging letting the virus go like this, rip through the community. People will die. What will their relatives say?

"The whole thing is a bit of a farce — and a dangerous farce."

The UK has abandoned its more relaxed approach to coronavirus after researchers warned that 250,000 people would die as a result.

The Imperial College London told Prime Minister Boris Johnson in a briefing at Number 10 that trying to achieve herd immunity by allowing the virus to spread was unsafe.

So should herd immunity be part of our coronavirus strategy?
Most scientists agree that countries should be trying multiple approaches to contain coronavirus, including social distancing, border controls, and pursuing a vaccine.

A man at a football match surrounded by others
The UK has shut down mass gatherings after researchers warned that allowing them to continue could kill 250,000.(Reuters: John Clifton)
"With any infectious disease, particularly respiratory ones such as coronaviruses, a primary public health goal is herd immunity," says Dr Silva.

But Dr Silva says a vaccine, which could be 18 months away, is one of the best and safest ways to do that.

"One thing is to introduce a vaccine to build up community resistance with an eye toward herd immunity. The other is to let a gnarly virus happily spread about," he says.

University of Sydney Bioethics Professor Angus Dawson says the herd immunity debate is confusing people, and governments should instead focus on "coordinated action".

"We should instead be introducing much more rigorous social distancing than we have seen so far," he says.

"This pandemic is a serious health threat. The protection of the most vulnerable, now, should be the highest priority, not some future theoretical benefit."

Social distancing to protect vulnerable people helps to flatten the curve of the pandemic, spreading the number of infections over a longer period of time.

Not only does this help ensure the healthcare system doesn't become overwhelmed, but it builds up herd immunity in a controlled way over time.

The UK's slow response to the coronavirus outbreak should be a warning to other nations, according to Professor John Oxford.

He says a wartime effort will now be required to avoid a health disaster in Britain.

"It's like the great COVID-19 war. Your grandson will come along and say, 'what did you do in the great COVID war?' and you say, 'I did social distancing, I cut holidays', and you contributed," he says.

"If 50 million people contribute like that, I think we can wipe the virus out."


Question of whether to close schools divides medical experts
Posted 5h

 

[Sideswipe]

the wuhan virus is not deadly enough to scare off many people from mass gatherings.

 

[nayr69sg]

Hope many of them do a stop over at Singapore and patronize the Integrated Resorts. Tourism!

Good money to be earned. USS!

Shopping!

Satay!

Steady lah!

 

[bobby]

Make sure they stopover in Changi and visit our shops in Jewel to help them out.....most of the restaurants there already halal.

 

[nayr69sg]

Make sure they stopover in Changi and visit our shops in Jewel to help them out.....most of the restaurants there already halal.

Yes yes yesssssss!

 

[Hypocrite-The]

Will the resident mudslime whore and his minions be going?

 

[THE_CHANSTER]

This judgment was 'executed' on March 29th 2020.

 

[eatshitndie]

why airlines still flying huh?

 

[duluxe]

It more of belief in protection and prayer answering than fear of God. After hari raya, indonesia, malaysia and pakistan will be in top 10 list.

 

[melzp]

Most ppl here are more afraid of magnificent pap than their own gods;
given that they do not need to punt 4d nor toto, being enriched.

 

[laksaboy]

Sinkieland should close its borders to Indonesia right about.... now. Including Batam.

Then again, doubtful if there is a 'what's wrong with collecting more money' mentality or diplomatic meekness towards an ASEAN abang.

 

[melzp]

small dicks that wanting to be BIG chief should call the shots first.

 

[whoami]

The rightwing Christian preachers in deep denial over Covid-19's danger

A number of American religious leaders have endangered their flock by holding services – and by claiming the virus can be defeated by faith in God

Rodney Howard-Browne repeatedly refused to call off services despite orders on social distancing. On Monday, he was arrested. Photograph: Rodney Howard-Browne/Facebook

Last Sunday in Tampa, Florida, the Pentecostal pastor and conspiracy theorist Rodney Howard-Browne conducted two services for full houses at his River church.

The closely packed audience spent hours together taking in hymns and Howard-Browne’s extended sermon, even as the state implemented quarantine for New Yorkers, and projections estimated that Florida’s coronavirus death toll would rise into the thousands.

But Howard-Browne is just one of the most prominent religious leaders on the Christian right who are endangering their flocks and the rest of America by claiming the virus is a hoax, or that it can only be defeated by supernatural means, rather than solid healthcare policy.

A sometime guest on Infowars and at the White House; a multi-level marketing kingpin who has alleged that Hollywood celebrities sacrifice children and that New Zealand’s Christchurch mosque attack was a so-called false flag event; Howard-Browne described Covid-19 as a “phantom plague” on 15 March.

In the same sermon, he claimed the public health response to the virus was part of a plot involving the Rockefeller Foundation and World Health Organization, whose goals were forced vaccinations and mass murder.

Howard-Browne has repeatedly refused to call off services in the interests of social distancing. In fact, in recent weeks he has insisted that his congregants embrace and shake hands, exhorting them that they were “revivalists, not pansies”.

On Monday, he was finally arrested for violating Florida’s rules on social distancing.

There are other American religious leaders and preachers who are in equally deep denial about the potentially deadly virus which will almost certainly infect a significant proportion of evangelicals, along with all other Americans.

Roy Moore, a pastor, former Alabama supreme court judge and failed Trump-backed Alabama Senate candidate who lost amid allegations of sexual misconduct with underage girls, told Facebook followers he would write a letter to his fellow pastors on what he called their “duty to continue church assemblies, even in the midst of these trying times”.

Moore added: “Our faith requires it, our duty demands it, and no law or government can prohibit it.”

Kenneth Copeland, a Texas-based “prosperity gospel” preacher who once defended his ownership of three private jets on the grounds that commercial flights would require him to “get in a long tube with a bunch of demons”, told viewers of his Victory Channel in early March that coronavirus was a “weak” strain of the flu, and that fearing the pandemic was a sin.

“Fear is a spiritual force. Fear is not OK. It is sin. It is a magnet for sickness and disease … You are giving the devil a pathway to your body,” Copeland said.

He also criticized pastors who had suspended in-person services and moved to online streaming.

Self-described prophet Lance Walnau wrote in a blogpost that “this virus will touch just a fraction of the population”, adding that it was less dangerous than seasonal flu.

He turned to conspiracy theory for an explanation of the public health response and associated media coverage. “The left wants the economy distressed because crisis improves their chances of taking office,” Walnau wrote.

He then counseled readers to ignore the information being published by media outlets.

“There is a spirit on media that will exaggerate this virus so badly that you will need to insulate your head in order to keep yourself free from paranoia,” Walnau wrote.

In the rightwing Catholic-aligned religious journal First Things, meanwhile, editor RR Reno castigated the widespread closure of Catholic churches and the suspension of public masses in Rome.

Reno wrote: “It is imperative that Christian leaders not succumb to the contagious panic, which is a weapon of the enemy to enslave us to our fears.”

From Montana, Chuck Baldwin – a pastor, former politician and purveyor of conspiracy theories about “Zionist influence” in the media – left the question of whether the virus was a hoax open in an online sermon.

But he added: “If it’s not a hoax, the virus is being used as a completely exaggerated, super-hyped, super-inflated psychological ops campaign against the American people – a coordinated full-court press of intimidation and fear-mongering by government, the mass media and the CDC.”

That message was dutifully amplified by the Idaho state representative Heather Scott on her Facebook page.

Others on the Christian right acknowledge the reality of the virus, but proffer supernatural causes or remedies.

In a blogpost last week, Ralph Drollinger, who has led Bible study for Trump cabinet members, suggested the virus was an instrument of divine judgment, and appeared to blame LGBTQ people. Drollinger later claimed that this was a misinterpretation.

Another would-be prophet, Jeremiah Johnson, claimed last week to have had a prophetic dream in which God had spoken to him.

In a baseball stadium where Trump, at bat, outwitted a demonic pitcher, Johnson said God had told him: “The enemy has intended to strike out Donald Trump at a very critical hour in history. But behold, supernatural help is on the way, for I will slow down the advancement of the enemy and allow him to knock this out of the park.”

André Gagne, an associate professor of theological studies at Concordia University, and a researcher of the Christian right, recently published on the phenomenon of coronavirus denialism among evangelicals. Asked why evangelical leaders are committed to taking such a risk in denying the reality of the infection, or even assisting its spread, Gagne said it was rooted in their theology.

“Many of these preachers believe Christians shouldn’t be controlled by a ‘spirit of fear’,” Gagne said. “They often quote biblical texts which promise God’s healing and protection to those who have faith. They are confident that God is in control; that this is part of his overall plan before a great end-times spiritual revival.”

He said: “There are those who also understand this in terms of ‘spiritual warfare’, and that Jesus gave Christians authority over every demon and sickness. And if a Christian dies, no worries: he or she will ‘be with the Lord’.”

Meanwhile, even where they disagree about the virus, religious leaders have found common ground on one subject: the importance of fundraising.

While Trump’s spiritual adviser Paula White-Cain has now recommended social distancing to her audience, she and Kenneth Copeland both encouraged their listeners to keep the donations rolling into their churches.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/04/america-rightwing-christian-preachers-virus-hoax