RIYADH, 4 May 2003 — The Ministry of Health has launched a website — www.moh.gov.sa — designed to inform residents of the Kingdom about Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

The website has substantial information about the flu-like disease, its symptoms, causes, preventive measures and travel advisories.

“The move is in line with the MOH’s efforts to generate awareness about SARS in Saudi Arabia,” said an MOH statement. The MOH’s site includes information about precautionary measures against this disease. Some symptoms include fever, cough, an inflammation of the throat, appetite loss, fatigue, skin rashes and pneumonia. It is mainly spread by droplets from sneezing and coughing.

“No SARS infection has been confirmed in Saudi Arabia, but the online information will help people to understand more about this new disease,” said the statement.

SARS has killed more than 435 people and infected some 6,200 around the world. The Kingdom has barred entry to nationals of five Asian countries — China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Vietnam — as well as Canada.

All international airlines have also been notified not to transport any passengers coming to the Kingdom from SARS-infected countries via a third country.

Travelers from East and South Asian countries are subject to stringent medical checks at airports and are required to remain under observation for 10 days. The MOH has set up examination rooms at airports where medical tests are conducted on arriving passengers.

Saudis have been advised against traveling to several Asian countries. This is in addition to other measures such as the suspension of flights by Saudia to SARS-stricken countries.

Referring to precautions taken by other Gulf countries against SARS, Dr. Tawfeek Ahmad Khoja, director general of the GCC Health Ministers’ Executive Council, said that a panel of representatives from all six GCC countries has been formed to take unified action. The panel has been given the task of taking necessary steps to check the outbreak of this disease.

The joint panel of the Gulf states, Dr. Khoja said, was also evaluating the GCC’s medical preparedness.

Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait and the UAE, which border Saudi Arabia, have said that the illness has not so far appeared in their countries.

Since more than half of the world’s SARS cases have been in China, this had resulted in the postponement of the visit of a GCC ministerial delegation to China, originally scheduled for May 17.

The delegation, comprising finance ministers of the Gulf states together with a contingent of leading businessmen, are now scheduled to visit China at the end of June if the disease is under control by then.

Some Gulf states have either canceled or postponed meetings scheduled to take place in SARS-hit Asian nations.