Ministry battles MERS ‘rumors’

May 24, 2014

Riyadh/Jeddah, May 24: The Health Ministry has stepped up efforts to reach out to people across the city to raise awareness about protection from the deadly coronavirus amid increasing concern among people.

The ministry reported three new cases of the MERS-CoV and the death of a 46-year-old man on Friday.

The new patients included one each in Jeddah, Madinah and Makkah. Four more patients were discharged from hospitals in Riyadh and Makkah following a full recovery.

In Makkah, the patient was a 19-year-old man suffering from diabetes.

In Madinah, the patient was a 20-year-old woman. Doctors described her condition as stable.

The latest figures revealed by the Ministry of Health have brought the total to 554 infections which include 178 deaths.

Dr. Sami Badawood, director of Ministry of Health in Jeddah, has urged people in general and students in particular not to believe rumors circulating on social media.

Health authorities in the city are fully equipped to deal with MERS or any other virus, he said.

The ministry has been targeting school students to raise the level of awareness and is now focusing on private sector and government offices.

The ministry is also starting centers to promote awareness about deadly diseases at airports and has started a similar unit at the Jeddah Islamic Port.

“We have conducted awareness camps in 48 boys schools for 23,432 students and 103 girls schools for 38,211 girls in Jeddah,” said Badawood.

“We have also visited a number of government and private sector offices in the city where Health Ministry team met with 12,236 employees to explain preventive and precautionary measures against coronavirus,” he said.

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‘Israeli aggression has killed 70 percent of Zionist captives in Gaza’

News Network

May 17,2024

Hamas says the Israeli regime’s bombing of the Gaza Strip, which is enduring a genocidal Israeli war, has killed 70 percent of the Zionist captives, who have been held by the Palestinian resistance movement since an October operation.

Khalil al-Hayya, deputy chief of Hamas’ Political Bureau, announced the information in an interview with Lebanon’s al-Manar television network on Thursday.

“The Zionist enemy wants to recover the remaining captives by force, killing them by bombing,” he said.

Around 250 people were taken captive on October 7 last year during Al-Aqsa Storm, a retaliatory operation by Gaza’s resistance groups.

At least 35,272 Palestinians have died in an Israeli war of genocide that began following the operation.

Hamas released 105 of the captives during a week-long truce in late November.

Hamas recently agreed to another truce proposal enabling cessation of the Israeli aggression and release of the rest of the captives. The Israeli regime, however, rejected the proposal.

The Hamas’ official said, “The latest proposal presented to us comes very close to our demands, but the enemy has not respected the proposal or the mediators.”

Al-Hayya reiterated the movement’s demands, saying any potential truce agreement had to mandate a complete and comprehensive cessation of the Israeli aggression, withdrawal of all Israeli forces from Gaza, and then a captive exchange deal.

‘Victory is our ally’

The Hamas’ official pointed to the Israeli regime’s failure to realize its war goals, including defeating the resistance.

“After eight months of aggression, the enemy has failed to eradicate the resistance in Gaza despite all the actions of the occupation,” he said.

“The resistance has rebuilt itself and can adapt its capabilities to face the occupation,” the official said, asserting, “The resistance is capable of enduring for many months and will continue to defend its people as long as the battle is ongoing.”

“The resistance has the ability to continue because it is right, and victory is our ally, while the enemy will face defeat.”

Thanking regional resistance

Elsewhere in his remarks, al-Hayya expressed gratitude towards the regional resistance groups for the pro-Palestinian operations that they have been carrying out against Israeli targets and those associated with the occupying regime.

“The fronts in Yemen, Lebanon, and Iraq support Gaza and link the cessation of [their] operations to the end of aggression on Gaza,” he said.

“When we meet with the resistance forces in the region, we affirm that the battle is one.”

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