RIYADH/JEDDAH: Passengers coming from countries affected by H1N1 flu are being screened on arrival at the Kingdom’s airports, officials said yesterday. Meanwhile, Gulf health ministers, who met in Doha yesterday, downplayed the threat of swine flu in the region but urged citizens to use caution when traveling to areas known to be infected.
“We regret the inconvenience caused and we request their (passengers’) cooperation to facilitate smooth operations at the airport,” Health Ministry spokesman Dr. Khalid Al-Mirghalani said, adding that the ministry was in the process of installing thermal cameras at all entry points in the Kingdom.
So far, none of the passengers screened at Riyadh’s King Khaled International Airport has tested positive, he added.
It was the same at King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA) in Jeddah. “The 200 passengers, including Saudis and citizens of other countries, who arrived in Jeddah from the United States did not show any symptoms of H1N1 or other infectious diseases such as Rift Valley fever and meningitis,” Director of Medical Observation at KAIA Abdul Ghani Al-Malki told Arab News.
Only passengers arriving from the Americas are scanned for the flu with the help of thermometers as the installation of thermal cameras has not yet been completed, the official said.
Yesterday, Gulf ministers stopped short of issuing a travel warning for Mexico but agreed to tighten controls at airports and ensure the availability of vaccine. “We should not exaggerate the matter,” GCC Secretary-General Abdulrahman Al-Attiyah said. “We have agreed to ... urge caution with regard to travelers to the areas where the disease has spread,” he said, adding that travelers passing through airports in the Gulf would be checked.
Mexico, where the flu has taken the heaviest toll, said yesterday the outbreak appeared to be “in a stabilization phase,” but health officials around the world were still on alert.
The flu virus also spread further across the globe, with more cases confirmed in Asia, Europe and Mexico, as the World Health Organization (WHO) said there were 615 cases of swine flu in 15 countries.
“I believe we have enough elements to say that we are in a stabilization phase,” said Mexican Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova, who confirmed that the tally of infected cases had risen to 427 in weary Mexico. The death toll stayed at 16.
Mexico, and particularly its capital, has been at the epicenter of the flu outbreak, recording most of the infections worldwide and all the deaths except for one — a Mexican toddler visiting relatives in the United States.
In Geneva, a WHO official indicated that the severity of the new virus in Mexico had not yet been established and that it had not spread in a sustained way outside of the Americas, a condition necessary to declare a full global pandemic.
Despite signs that the outbreak in Mexico may be stabilizing, the United States was not letting down its guard. “We can’t afford to let down our vigilance,” said Anne Schuchat, a top official at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, indicating that the US now has 160 confirmed cases spread across 21 states.
South Korea and Italy confirmed their first cases of the virus, but both countries said their patients had made swift recoveries, while doctors in Norway were testing a woman who recently returned from Mexico for the virus to determine whether she could become the Scandinavian country’s first case.
— With input from agencies
