Wednesday, Apr 30, 2014
Manama: Saudi Arabia is launching a campaign to persuade the elderly, pregnant women and people with chronic diseases to postpone Haj this year in a bid to prevent the spread of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers) coronavirus during the pilgrimage season.
Acting Health Minister Adel Faqih said yesterday that the foreign ministry is to ask its embassies and consulates to convince the particularly vulnerable categories of people to delay the Haj.
More than 100 people have so far died in Saudi Arabia since the outbreak of the potentially deadly virus in 2012.
Around three million Muslims from all over the world congregate in Makkah annually for at least four days to perform the Haj.
Last year, Saudi Arabia said that it would not issue Haj visas for the elderly and people with chronic diseases.
At a press conference in the presence of experts from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and from Australia, Germany and Britain, the minister said that health officials have visited several hospitals in the kingdom in their follow up to Mers outbreak.
The minister warned against “dealing directly with camels, particularly the ones not in stable condition.”
He said that those who are obliged to deal with camels should make sure to wear face masks, local news site Sabq reported.
Meanwhile, scientists have found natural human antibodies to Mers virus and say their discovery marks a step towards developing treatments for the often fatal disease.
In studies published in two leading scientific journals on Monday, scientists from the United States, China and Hong Kong said they had found several so-called neutralising antibodies that were able to prevent a key part of the virus from attaching to receptors that allow it to infect human cells.
By Habib Toumi Bureau Chief
Gulf News 2014. All rights reserved.
