NO HAJ AND UMRAH VISAS FOR THREE AFRICAN NATIONS ON EBOLA CONCERNS

**Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Health (MOH) bans the issuance of Haj and Umrah visas for Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia because of concerns about the spread of the Ebola virus.**(Photo: Gulf Business)

Jeddah, 9 Shawwal 1435/5 August 2014 (MINA) – Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Health (MOH) has banned the issuance of Haj and Umrah visas for Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia because of concerns about the spread of the Ebola virus in these countries, according to Dr. Khaled Marghalani, MOH spokesman.

The ministry constantly coordinates with the ministries of Haj and Foreign Affairs to take all necessary measures at borders and airports, International Islamic News Agency (IINA) quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

“We have communicated the instructions to the officials of all ports of entry. We have trained our personnel on how to identify and deal with Ebola cases and control virus infection, should it happen,” he added.

For his part, Dr. Hussein Shareef, Ministry of Haj’s undersecretary for Haj affairs, said the ministry would take all preventive measures to ensure public health and safety.

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Khaled Al-Khaibari, General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) spokesman, said there are no direct flights between the Kingdom and these three African countries except during the Haj season.

Within the same vein, the Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the WHO and all partners, keeps on taking the necessary precautionary measures, in order to control this disease and its outbreak outside these geographical areas.

The Most Common Fatal Diseases

Therefore, the WHO and the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) have sent experts; in en endeavor to support the practical combating process in the fields of coordination, infection prevention and control, epidemic surveillance, therapeutic measures, media and social mobilization.

The total number of suspected and confirmed cases of the Ebola hemorrhagic fever in Guinea has reached 112 cases on 30th March 2013 (30 of them passed away) at a death rate of 60%. Besides, the reported cases are being examined in Liberia and Sierra Leone, along the borders with Guinea.

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Furthermore, the Liberian Health Ministry has announced that seven suspected cases have been recorded in the state on 29th March 2013, two of them were confirmed.

The Ebola hemorrhagic fever, known as the viral hemorrhagic, is one of the most common fatal diseases.

The Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) was discovered for the first time in 1976 in one of the western tropical regions in Sudan, at a zone near Zaire (called now the Democratic Republic of Congo), given that the disease has not been detected outside the Central and East Africa countries. The Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) has five separate viral species, namely: Bundibugyo, Côte d’Ivoire, Reston, Sudan and Zaire.

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It was found out that the species of Bundibugyo, Sudan and Zaire have caused wide outbreaks of Ebola in Africa, and led to the death of 25% to 90% of the total number of clinical cases, while the species of Côte d’Ivoire and Reston didn’t result in the onset of any similar outbreaks.

It is worth mentioning that the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) can be transmitted through contact with the infected blood or body fluids containing the virus. It also can be transmitted through dealing with wild animals carrying the virus, such as: chimpanzees, gorillas, monkeys, antelopes, and fruit bats, whether they are sick or dead.

Besides, there is no effective qualitative cure for this disease, but only supportive health care. (T/P02/E01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)