MoH watches for MERS, Ebola among Haj pilgrims

September 4, 2014

Riyadh, Sep 4: As part of its strategic health program for Haj, the Ministry of Health has set up a Central Command Center to monitor the health conditions of Haj pilgrims coming from all parts of the world, a senior MoH official said here on Wednesday.

This year, the center will focus on the Ebola virus and MERS coronavirus during the pilgrimage.

“We are monitoring the movement of all incoming pilgrims at all entry points to the Kingdom with the help of our trained health officials,” Hussein Ghannam, general supervisor of the general directorate of health affairs for Haj and Umrah, said.

Ghannam was speaking to the press following the sixth meeting of the Haj preparatory committee of the MoH held on Tuesday, chaired by Mohammed Hamzah Khosheim, deputy health minister for planning and development. He added that the MoH has deployed health officials at 15 ports of entry via land, sea and air, to monitor the entry of Haj pilgrims during this season. “They are expected to take preventive and curative measures to keep infections under control.

He said that the health officials posted at the ports of entry would ensure the pilgrims had already taken the vaccination from their ports of origin as advised earlier. “If they have not done so, relevant doses will be given to them at the ports of entry so that they would be fortified with immunity against the respective diseases,” the deputy minister said. “They would be reporting any developments to the central command committee on a 24-hour basis. "

All health officials who serve the pilgrims will wear face mask during their meeting with them.

The hospitals and health care clinics in the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah are fully equipped with the required manpower, ambulances, equipment and medicines for preventive and curative treatments.

The MoH, through its overseas Saudi missions, has already instructed the incoming pilgrims to produce vaccination certificates against yellow fever, meningitis, polio and influenza depending on the countries of origin. Most of the pilgrims from the African and South American continents have been advised to take vaccination against yellow fever which is endemic to these countries and vaccinations against meningitis have been made mandatory for all pilgrims since it can be spread due to congestion of people, coughing and droplets from infected people.

The official said the ministry had spelt out the quarantine regulations of the Kingdom. They include a valid certificate of vaccination against meningitis 10 days before the departure of the pilgrims to the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah, as well as to obtain a certificate of vaccination against polio from pilgrims coming from the disease-affected countries.

Comments

Add new comment

Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.

Syrian Town erupts after Israeli forces enter Beit Jinn; heavy casualties reported

News Network

November 28,2025

Several Syrians were killed and more than two dozen others injured in Israeli strikes on the outskirts of Damascus, amid intensified incursions by the occupying regime since the fall of former president Bashar al-Assad and the rise of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rule.

Syrian state TV reported that the casualties occurred during an overnight Israeli assault involving helicopters and drones on the town of Beit Jinn in the Damascus countryside. The attack followed an Israeli military unit’s entry into the town, where they were surrounded by local residents, leading to gunfire and direct confrontations.

According to the report, “The occupation army’s helicopters and artillery shelled Beit Jinn, located at the foothills of Mount Hermon, resulting in 13 martyrs and 25 injured civilians.” The broadcaster did not specify the full extent of damage.

Al-Ikhbariyah Syria confirmed that the shelling coincided with Israeli soldiers entering Beit Jinn, while artillery pounded surrounding areas. The broadcaster stated that the escalation began after local residents clashed with an Israeli patrol that had infiltrated the southern town and “kidnapped” three young men.

Following a two-hour exchange of heavy fire, Israeli forces withdrew and repositioned on the hill of Butt al-Warda at the town’s outskirts.

Israeli media acknowledged that six soldiers were wounded in the clashes—three of them seriously—describing the confrontation as a “sudden ambush” that forced the deployment of reserve units and air support to secure an exit route. No further details were provided.

The aggression has fueled renewed displacement from Beit Jinn, with residents fleeing to nearby villages amid increasingly frequent Israeli attacks.

The raid came just a day after Israeli troops carried out another ground incursion into Umm al-Luqas village in Quneitra province. According to SANA, an Israeli unit in four vehicles entered the village, raided several homes, and later withdrew.

Syria condemned the repeated incursions as violations of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement and UN resolutions, urging the international community to enforce compliance and pressure Israel to halt its operations and withdraw fully.

Israel has expanded its attacks across Syrian territory following the collapse of the Assad government last year. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly instructed his forces to push deeper into Syrian territory and seize strategic positions.

Meanwhile, critics say the HTS-led interim government’s inaction and growing normalization gestures toward Israel have emboldened Tel Aviv to intensify its military operations. HTS, formerly linked to al-Qaeda, seized control of Damascus last December, formally ending Assad’s rule.

Comments