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Geneva: The World
Health Organization Wednesday urged health workers everywhere to
report patients with acute respiratory infection who may have been
in Saudi Arabia or Qatar, following the discovery of a new virus
from the same family as SARS.
Saudi Arabia said it had taken precautions to prevent disease
spreading next month, when it expects close to three million
Muslims to flock to the annual Haj pilgrimage, then return home.
WHO put out a global alert Sunday saying a new virus had infected
a 49-year-old Qatari who had recently traveled to Saudi Arabia,
where another man with an almost identical virus had died.
The Qatari remained critically ill in hospital in Britain as of
Tuesday, but the WHO said Wednesday no new case of the new virus
had been reported.
“We’ve got things in place should things
change, should the behavior of the virus change,” spokesman
Gregory Hartl said.
WHO has not recommended any travel
restrictions in connection with the new virus, but said it was
working closely with Saudi authorities on health measures for the Haj.
WHO said it was identifying a network of laboratories that
could provide countries with expertise on corona viruses.
“Though
it is a very different virus from SARS, given the severity of the
two confirmed cases so far, WHO is engaged in further
characterizing the novel corona virus,” it said.
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