Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry recorded 1,165 members of the Jamaah Tabligh congregation from Indonesia spread across 13 countries, of which 357 have returned home, while 808 others remain stranded amid the global new coronavirus disease pandemic.

The Indonesian representative offices facilitated the return of those Jamaah Islamiyah members, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry's Director for the Protection of Citizens and Legal Entities Overseas, Judha Nugraha, stated.

Some of the returnees were flown back home from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Jordan, Moroco, Kuwait, and Thailand, while those who have yet to return to Indonesia remain quarantined in accordance with the COVID-19 preventive measures or tried at court, he informed journalists here on Wednesday.

"Several of them receive first information report, while several others remain under judicial custody," Nugraha remarked, adding that the Indonesian Embassy in New Delhi is offering legal assistance and will soon repatriate them from India to Indonesia.

The Jamaah Tabligh members are viewed as one of the clusters receiving protection for Indonesian citizens during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As of May 19, the Indonesian government has facilitated the return of 99,543 Indonesian citizens from abroad, most of whom are Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia and Indonesian sailors working for foreign cruise ships.

Indonesia and several other countries across the world have been battling the spread of the new coronavirus disease over the past few months. The Indonesian government officially announced the country's first two confirmed COVID-19 cases on March 2.

This deadly coronavirus surfaced in Wuhan in the end of December 2019 but owing to China's lack of transparency and goodwill to tell the truth of human-to-human transmissions from the start has resulted in its global spread.

The Government of the United States, where several of its citizens have succumbed to the COVID-19 disease, has alleged the Chinese Government of having "intentionally concealed the severity of the coronavirus from the international community," according to CNN on May 4, 2020.

Washington argued that "China is likely cut its exports of medical supplies prior to its WHO (World Health Organization) January notification that COVID-19 is a contagion", according to a Department of Homeland Security report that CNN quoted on May 4.

Indonesia has witnessed several doctors and nurses fighting the coronavirus pandemic had succumbed to the disease.

Related news: 17 Indonesian members of jamaah tabligh in India still treated
Related news: COVID-19: Indonesians overseas being monitored, assisted
Related news: North Kalimantan: Five Jamaah Tabligh members recover from COVID-19
Related news: Air India repatriation flight carrying 59 Indonesians lands in Jakarta

Translator: Yashinta DP, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Sri Haryati
Copyright © ANTARA 2020