WHO advising Saudis on virus – 1000 Nigerian women denied entry for haj

The UN health agency said yesterday it knew of no more cases in the Gulf of a mystery illness from the same virus family as the deadly SARS but was advising Saudi Arabia ahead of the upcoming haj pilgrimage. “WHO is working closely with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as in previous years, to support the country’s health measures for all visitors participating in the hajj pilgrimage to Makkah next month,” the World Health Organization said in a statement. The Geneva-based agency earlier confirmed that the illness was in the coronavirus family and had caused the death of a Saudi national. It has also left a Qatari man seriously ill in a London hospital after he was transferred there from Doha earlier this month, the WHO said, adding that he had previously been in Saudi Arabia. The two cases occurred three months apart in June and September, said the WHO, stressing that the illness is not Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome which swept out of China in 2003, killing more than 800 people worldwide. What sets the new virus apart from SARS, the agency added, is that it causes rapid kidney failure. Meanwhile, pilgrims have already begun to arrive in the Saudi kingdom for the ritual that represents the world’s largest annual gathering. Last year, nearly three million Muslim pilgrims performed the haj, which represents one of the five pillars of Islam and must be performed at least once in a lifetime by all Muslims who are able to do so. Saudi health authorities have downplayed the chances of an outbreak of the mystery illness, adding that there were no changes on travel conditions for pilgrims. Meanwhile a Danish hospital said yesterday it had isolated five people with symptoms of a viral respiratory illness pending the result of tests. Odense University hospital said those admitted were a family of four where the father had been to Saudi Arabia, and an unrelated person who had been to Qatar. Two of the patients were children under five. SARS swept out of China in 2003, killing more than 800 people worldwide. Separately, Saudi Arabia has denied entry to some 1,000 Nigerian woman seeking to visit for haj because they were not accompanied by men, with most stuck at the Jeddah airport, Nigerian officials said yesterday. The women, who began arriving Sunday at the airport in Jeddah, in western Saudi Arabia, were facing possible deportations by Saudi authorities, said a report compiled by the National Haj Commission of Nigeria, which oversees Nigerian participation in the pilgrimage to Makkah. “Upon enquiries by the reception team officials of the National Haj Commission in the airport, they were told that the pilgrims were held back because of lack of mahram (lawful male accompanying pilgrim),” said the report, which was submitted to the Nigerian House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs. About 171 of the women returned home to Nigeria on a flight yesterday, an official said. “These women were not deported. They were returned based on the decision by the National Haj Commission because the embarrassment from the Saudi authorities was becoming unbearable,” commission spokesman Umar Bala told AFP. Bilateral talks were ongoing between officials of the two countries to resolve the issue, he added. He said that about 1,000 women were still blocked at the Jeddah airport. According to the report, Nigerian pilgrims’ welfare boards have in the past acted as “mahrams” and visas have been granted on that basis. The report said that officials observed that flights which arrived at the Madinah airport were not subjected to such treatment. “Only those in Jeddah were affected. Checks at the Jeddah airport revealed that only Nigerian pilgrims were subjected to such treatment,” the report said. Last year, nearly three million Muslim pilgrims performed the haj. Roughly half of Nigeria’s 160 million people are Muslim. Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation. From : Kuwait times.