The death of four pilgrims from swine flu at this year’s Haj season in Mecca has prompted health authorities in Saudi Arabia to be on red alert and now fears the event could provide perfect breeding conditions for the virus are emerging.

Dr Khaled Marghlani, a Saudi health ministry spokesman, told reporters that so far, 16 other pilgrims had been diagnosed with the disease, of which four are currently hospitalized and in a critical condition.

Saudi authorities had installed thermal cameras at the country’s airports and ferry terminals in a bid to prepare for any outbreaks. They also deployed an additional ‘army’ of 15,000 health workers and provided hundreds of extra beds.

At the present moment, all pilgrims wanting to come to Mecca for the Haj are required to possess a H1N1 vaccination certificate before applying for a visa to the country.

One of the five pillars of Islam, the Haj represents a critical element to the kingdom’s tourism industry, which allows Saudi Arabia to diversify its economy, and thus reducing its reliance on sales of oil.

But this year’s Haj celebrations have struggled with the image of the swine flue epidemic due to its huge gatherings and mounting tensions with Iran.

Most of the political tensions with the neighbouring country stems from the Iranian clergy and its president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.  Last month, Ahmadinejad claimed that Saudi Arabia should not host pilgrims because of its alliance with the West and its behaviour towards Shiite pilgrims.

During the Ramadan, the Iranian Government had forbidden all pilgrimages to Saudi Arabia in a bid to avoid the virus from spreading further.

On average, 2.5 million people from around the world undertake the Haj pilgrimage every year, with the largest contingency coming from Indonesia with 200,000 participants.

For this year’s gathering, the Saudi Government has deployed a total of 20,000 health workers in order to cope with the swine flu and other medical issues.

Around 1 million pilgrims are capable of being accommodated at The Grand Mosque compound.

Subscribe for free and recieve the latest Self-Catering-Breaks news and stories
Filed under Health & Environment, Travel News, World News

• Emaar Properties Sets Sights on Saudi Superscraper

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 25th, 2009 at 10:00 am and is filed under Health & Environment, Travel News, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.