JEDDAH, 24 April 2003 — Saudi Arabia has stopped issuing visas to Umrah pilgrims from some Far Eastern countries.
“Saudi missions in China, Singapore, Hong Kong and the Philippines have been instructed to stop issuing Umrah visas indefinitely,” a Haj Ministry spokesman said yesterday.
Umrah pilgrims are given visas throughout the year, except during the annual Haj season. The Kingdom earlier this month barred entry to visitors coming from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Vietnam as a precautionary measure against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
Passengers from Far Eastern and Asian countries are being subjected to screening at King Khaled, King Abdul Aziz and King Fahd international airports in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam, and suspected cases are kept under observation for 10 days, said Muhammad Bentin, undersecretary at the Ministry of Haj. The Kingdom has also advised Saudis against traveling to several Asian countries due to the outbreak of the atypical pneumonia.
Dr. Qasim Al-Gosaibi, deputy health minister for executive affairs, said: “We’ve started checking people coming from certain countries in the Far East and Asia. They will be kept under observation for 10 days. Isolation wards have been designated in major hospitals in all regions to admit suspected cases of SARS.”
He urged the public to cooperate by alerting authorities quickly about suspected cases and advised them not to travel to countries affected by the disease.
The statement came on a day when an Indonesian woman with conditions resembling SARS was hospitalized in Bahrain. The woman, suffering from a high fever and symptoms similar to SARS was admitted to the Sulaimaniya Medical Center in Manama, a report quoting Mariyam Al-Jalahema, a Health Ministry official, said.
Another woman and her son who both had symptoms of SARS were able to leave the hospital during the day after tests did not turn up anything suspicious, she added.
Bahrain has not confirmed any cases of SARS so far. The deadly virus has killed more than 250 people and infected nearly 4,500 in 17 countries. Gulf Air, owned by Bahrain, Oman and Abu Dhabi, has announced plans to suspend flights to Hong Kong from tomorrow due to the SARS outbreak.
Umrah pilgrims from at least seven countries across South Asia, the Middle East and Africa, have in any case been delayed in their countries due to a change in the bank guarantee system. The countries include India, Pakistan, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, Syria and Ethiopia.
“The previous system of a SR10,000 bond that a foreign agent had to obtain from the Kingdom has been replaced by a bank guarantee amounting to SR100,000 that the overseas agent has to furnish now. So far there have been no confirmed Umrah bookings from these countries,” said Fayyaz Siddiqui, chief operating officer at Hajeej, part of Alfaisaliah Travel and Tours.
