SARS in Saudi Arabia: No Travel Ban, Overseas Workers Cautioned

Despite a growing number of deaths, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said there was no need yet to impose a travel ban to Saudi Arabia in light of the new SARS-like novel coronavirus now gripping the country.

"Based on the current situation and available information, WHO encourages all member states to continue their surveillance for severe, acute respiratory infections and to carefully review any unusual patterns," Glenn Thomas, a spokesman for the UN health agency, told reporters in Geneva.

"WHO does not advise special screening at ports of entry with regard to this event, nor does it recommend that any travel or trade restrictions be applied," he added.

Health authorities theorised the transmission of the new SARS-like novel coronavirus seemed linked to one healthcare facility in Al-Ahsaa, which is located in the oil-rich Gulf region near Bahrain and Qatar.

However, an executive director of a small hospital as well as a relative of three patients being treated for the disease, denied the theory, claiming the sick had actually been to different hospitals.

The unidentified relative told The Wall Street Journal that "the Saudi health ministry just wants to close the books when it said the cases were limited to one hospital."

"We have maybe paid the price of being transparent by testing patients and reporting the results," said Malek al Moosa, executive director of a small hospital in Hofuf, in the country's Eastern province. He categorically denied that the center of the outbreak was his hospital.

Since the new SARS-like novel coronavirus had yet to be confirmed to be capable of human-to-human transmission, the Philippine government has cautioned its overseas Filipino workers to remain cautious and vigilant against the disease.

The Philippine Embassy in Jeddah has issued a guideline urging OFWs to take all possible preventive measures, including frequent hand washing, wearing of gas masks, and use of disposable tissues, among others.

Around the world, from 2006-2011, there are currently 2.2 million OFWs. Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar were the top three countries of destination accounting 44.1 per cent of the OFWs in 2011 and 43.5 per cent in 2010.

Since first exposed to global attention in September 2012, the new SARS-like novel coronavirus has infected at least 30 cases, 18 of which had died.

The cases were sporadically located in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Germany and Britain.