Credit Wikipedia
# 7831
With thousands of religious pilgrims already arrived in Saudi Arabia, and nearly 2 million expected to arrive over the next couple of weeks for the Hajj, concerns over the potential international spread of the MERS coronavirus is palpable among public health officials around the globe. The Saudi government – in addition to ramping up their own surveillance and medical infrastructure – is doing what it can to quell those concerns.
Unfortunately, what we seem to be getting is a `Don’t worry, be happy’ message, as evidenced by the following English language report from Al Arabiya, which assures that `ministry has prepared for the Coronavirus by providing vaccines and medications’.
The only problem is, there are no approved medications or vaccines for MERS.
In fairness, every year the Saudis mount an impressive public health response to the the annual Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages, and this year they appear to have greatly expanded those efforts due to the MERS threat. Dealing with the medical needs of four million Hajj pilgrims each year, many with pre-existing medical conditions, over the span of a month is quite an accomplishment.
I’d be more comforted, however, if we were seeing better epidemiological data on the MERS cases coming out of the Saudi MOH.
Last Update: Thursday, 3 October 2013 KSA 15:32 - GMT 12:32
Saudi minister unveils plans to ensure hajj pilgrims’ safety
Thursday, 3 October 2013
Al Arabiya
Saudi Minister of Health Abdullah al-Rabeea said on Wednesday that his ministry has devised a thorough plan to ensure the safety of pilgrims during this year’s hajj season.
“We expanded the presence of healthcare workers, a total of 22,000, at all facilities in Mecca, Medina and (other) holy sites in order to follow up on all cases that may (medically) pose a threat to pilgrims,” Rabeea told Al-Arabiya.
The also said that the ministry's preparations for this year's hajj season began at the end of last year's season, adding that the aim of early preparations is to detail all previous mistakes and thus avoid them during this year.
