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Coronavirus spreads in Middle East: Saudi Arabia bars pilgrims from entering country for Umrah

DTMT Network
On February 27, 20202, Saudi Arabia closed the two holiest shrines of Islam, Mecca and Medina, to foreign travelers and barred pilgrims from entering the country amid fears of a rapid spread of coronavirus in the Middle East.

While officials in Saudi Arabia said the ban was temporary, they gave no indication how long it might last. It comes amid a broader ban on visa holders from states deemed most likely to pose a risk to regional health.

"The kingdom’s government has decided to [suspend] entry to the kingdom for the purpose of umrah and visit to the Prophet’s mosque temporarily,” the Saudi foreign ministry said in a statement.

While not explicitly stating which countries that referred to, border authorities at Riyadh’s King Khalid international airport were screening passengers from Iran, China, South Korea and Italy, from where clusters of coronavirus have spread across neighbouring borders.

Saudi Arabia has itself so far recorded no cases of the virus, but the number infected across the region has steadily increased, with patients quarantined in Bahrain, Kuwait, the UAE, Iraq and Lebanon.

Officials in Iran said Friday prayers in Tehran will be cancelled this week, as a crackdown on large gatherings gathered pace. Iran remains the regional hotspot for the coronavirus and is the country with the highest death toll outside China.

Iran had confirmed 245 cases and 26 deaths.

Kuwait announced that it had confirmed 43 cases of coronavirus, all of which involved people who had been to Iran.

Iraq too announced the first confirmed case of coronavirus in its capital, Baghdad, taking nationwide infections to six and raising concerns about the capacity of the dilapidated health system to respond.

The Iraqi government announced sweeping measures to try to contain the spread of the virus, ordering the closure of schools and universities, cafes, cinemas and other public spaces until 7 March.

Hajj attracts close to 3 million people from around the world every year for a pilgrimage, that transforms the holy shrines in Saudi Arabia into the most densely packed pocket on earth for up to one week a year. Along with the Tokyo Olympics, which are also set to be held in July, it is one of the two biggest events in the world in 2020 drawing masses of people from around the planet to gather in close proximity to each other.

Such conditions are considered ideal for an even quicker spread of coronavirus, which now exists on every continent, except Antarctica, and in 44 countries. With a global infection rate of more than 80,000 and growing daily, the spread of the virus is now near a pandemic, and public health officials around the globe say a tipping point in which a further breakout cannot be contained, may have already been passed.


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