RIYADH: Gulf Health Ministries’ Director General Dr. Tawfiq Khoja has assured that there is no spread of the Zika virus to the Gulf countries.

On the sidelines of the Second Gulf Diabetes Conference in Kuwait this week, Dr. Khoja said the Gulf states have allocated sizeable amounts in their budgets to fight Zika, according to the Kuwait Press Agency.

He said the GCC countries have been put on alert to monitor the disease in the member states.

The GCC aims to increase readiness of the Committee on Preventive Diseases, which is leading the fight against spread of Zika in the region, he said.

There are direct communications among all the member states as regards prevention of the virus and an early warning.

The World Health Organization has announced a global state of emergency in light of indications that the disease would cause severe congenital birth defects and could affect millions of people in the world.

The Executive Director of Health Emergencies and Epidemics at the World Health Organization, Bruce Aylward, said that studies published recently in the Lancet Medical Journal and by the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) spoke about this viral mosquito-borne disease and issued their own warnings to complement those of national departments and international health bodies.