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Saudi swine flu prevention during Haj examined

Experts from the United Nations and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Saturday toured entry points used by millions of Muslim pilgrims to assess how the kingdom plans to prevent the spread of swine flu.

  • AP
  • Published: 22:00 June 27, 2009
  • Gulf News

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: Experts from the United Nations and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Saturday toured entry points used by millions of Muslim pilgrims to assess how the kingdom plans to prevent the spread of swine flu.

The field trip is part of a four-day workshop in the western city of Jeddah, meant to allay fears of a wide-scale transmission of the disease during the Haj pilgrimage in December.

Egyptian Health Minister Hatem Al Gabali has raised concerns about a possible spread, and said the tens of thousands of Egyptians who perform the Haj risk being quarantined upon their return.

Saudi Arabia has set up a committee to draw up special measures for Haj, which attracts about 3 million people every year to the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah.

In addition, hundreds of thousands more Muslims perform Omra, the voluntary lesser pilgrimage that can be completed at any other time of the year.

Twenty experts from the CDC and World Health Organization will review Saudi Arabia's steps, including those taken at Jiddah's airport and seaport - the main entry points for pilgrims - and offer recommendations and modifications where necessary, according to a Health Ministry statement.

"The workshop is part of a comprehensive, national plan ... to deal with this disease in the kingdom," said the statement, carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.

El-Gabali's remarks have drawn mixed reaction from top clerics in the Muslim world.

Some have said they would support the idea of a quarantine for returning pilgrims if the WHO declares a pandemic outbreak, which it did earlier this month.

Others, however, maintain it would represent a dereliction of Islamic duties unless religious authorities in Saudi Arabia announces it. The pilgrimage is required of all able-bodied Muslims at least once in their lifetime.

Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti, Shaikh Abdul Aziz Al Shaikh, has said the warning about swine flu exposure at the Haj is "exaggerated."

The number of cases of swine flu cases in the Arab world has been growing, with countries reporting cases - but so far no deaths - almost every day. Saudi Arabia announced six new cases on Saturday, raising the total to 62.

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