More than 8,500 pilgrims from across Asia gathered in Indonesia on March 18, despite concerns over Covid-19.

The government requested to postpone the event but organizers declined, regional official Arifuddin Saeni said today at Gowa. He estimates 8,695 people gathered in Gowa, South Sulawesi province for the event on March 19-22.

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

The organizers check the body temperature of pilgrims as a precaution. Saeni said health officials had arrived at the venue and asked to monitor the participants.

"We are more afraid of God," Mustari Bahranuddin, a member of the organizing committee, answered when asked about the risk of spreading nCoV. "Everything is just human, we are afraid of disease, we are afraid of death. But there are things that go beyond the body, that is the soul."

Two weeks ago, a similar event took place in Malaysia on February 27 - one third attracted more than 16,000 followers, resulting in about 500 people infected with nCoV. In Vietnam, a 42-year-old man in Ninh Thuan became a "patient 61" after attending the ceremony.

Malaysia became the most heavily affected country in Southeast Asia by Covid-19 with 790 cases, two died and 60 recovered. Both events in Malaysia and Indonesia are organized by members of the Sunni Tablighi Jamaat Islamic movement.

Indonesia recorded more than 220 cases, 19 died and more than 10 recovered. As of March 27, the nation of 260 million people had conducted 1,255 tests. Meanwhile, South Korea, with a population of 1/5, is performing more than 15,000 tests a day.