Saudi Arabia has come under singular praise from the World Health Organization (WHO) for the initiatives and measures taken by the Ministry of Health to contain the MERS coronavirus in the Kingdom.
“We are deeply impressed by the endeavors undertaken by the Saudi government to keep the coronavirus under control,” Dr. Ala Alwan, WHO regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean region, told Arab News on the sidelines of the second International Conference on Mass Gathering Medicine, which concluded in Riyadh on Monday.
The three-day conference, which was inaugurated by Health Minister Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, focused on coronavirus, which has already infected 130 people in the world. The virus has infected 109 people and caused 49 fatalities in the Kingdom alone.
More than 1,000 local and international delegates, including health ministers from 15 countries, took part in conference deliberations. The Ministry of Health organized the conference in coordination with the World Health Organization (WHO).
The conference called for intensive global investigation of the MERS coronavirus to help uncover its mode of transmission, transition rate, level of exposure and susceptible hosts.
Alwan told Arab News that the WHO has been closely monitoring the movement of the virus in the Kingdom and it is fully satisfied with the preventive measures taken by the Kingdom to control the spread of the virus. “The Saudi government’s efforts have definitely limited the incidence of the virus to a great extent and it is making great efforts with the WHO for the diagnosis of the virus among patients,” he said.
The Ministry of Health is currently cooperating with the WHO Collaborating Center in Riyadh in the fight against the virus. “We are cooperating with member countries to control the virus, which has affected around 130 people worldwide. We have requested all countries to report incidence of the virus so that other countries could take preventive measures against the disease,” he said.
Alwan recalled that the WHO conducted a meeting in June to discuss a collective response plan to counter the threats of the novel coronavirus infection on a global health.
Over 100 health officials from countries in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, as well as from France, Germany and the United Kingdom, met in the WHO regional offices in Cairo to discuss the issue of the virus.
Alwan said the meeting acknowledged that despite no current evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission, MERS-CoV may evolve to spread quickly among humans and affect wider geographical areas. While major knowledge gaps remain in understanding the emergence of this virus, clinical manifestations, as well as the transmission risk, recent scientific research is enhancing the global knowledge on the disease.
This new knowledge now needs to be translated into a set of concrete public health actions in order to improve global and regional public health preparedness.
The meeting also recognized that as much collecting and sharing of full epidemiological, clinical, immunologic and virologic information related to MERS-CoV infections are essential for better understanding and characterization of the disease that will contribute to global preparedness against this novel infection.
Equally important is coordinated and inter-sectoral actions to increase global, regional and inter-regional collaboration among countries with WHO and other international health partners in responding to the outbreak caused by this novel virus.
Countries were also encouraged to improve surveillance for detection of any sign that signals sustained human-to-human transmission, as well as to participate in further development of diagnostic assays through international networking with technical agencies, sharing of materials and resources and participation in laboratory studies.
The meeting identified a set of concrete public health action points that can collectively improve and strengthen global public health preparedness, surveillance and response to MERS-CoV.
The delegates felt that although there is no definite source for this infection, bats and camels are the likely sources identified at present. The conference stressed the need for experts to conduct genetic research in the relevant field.
