Jeddah: Saudi Arabia is blocking Haj pilgrims from three West African countries ravaged by Ebola virus outbreaks from making a pilgrimage to Makkah.
The Saudi Ministry of Health (MOH) announced on Monday it has banned the issuance of Haj and Umrah visas for Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia due to concerns about the spread of the Ebola virus in these countries, Dr. Khalid Marghalani, MOH spokesman told the Jeddah-based Saudi Gazette daily.
The ministry coordinates with the ministries of Haj and Foreign Affairs to take necessary measures at borders and airports.
“We have communicated the instructions to the officials of all ports of entry. We have trained our personnel on how to identify and deal with Ebola cases and control virus infection, should it happen,” Dr Marghalani told the paper.
For his part, Dr. Hussein Shareef, Ministry of Haj’s undersecretary, said the ministry would take all preventive measures to ensure public health and safety.
Meanwhile, Khalid Al-Khaibari, spokesperson of the Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA), said there are no direct flights between the Kingdom and these three African countries, except during the Haj season.
Haj is a pilgrimage to Makkah every able-bodied Muslim worldwide must make at least once in their life.
It has been reported that up to 7,000 people were affected by Saudi Arabia’s decision to cancel visas for pilgrims this year, a government official has said.
The leaders of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia had accepted the kingdom’s decision “with grace”, the Saudi charge
d'affaires to Guinea, where majority of the pilgrims originated, reportedly said.
Over 13.5 million Muslims live in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.
About 85 per cent of Guinea's 9.7 million population are Muslim. Some 60 percent of Sierra Leone’s 5.7 million population and around half of Liberia's 4.12 million people are Muslim.
Over 3 million Muslims from around the world made the Hajj pilgrimage in 2013, but that was actually down from 2012 because of fears over the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak there.
Haj this year takes place from Oct 1-6.
