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As Muslim pilgrims head home:
Cairo Airport on flu alert
EGYPT: Cairo airport authorities reinforced swine flu testing
measures on Friday as thousands of pilgrims were expected home from holy
sites in Saudi Arabia, state-run MENA news agency said.
Authorities are bracing themselves for the arrival of around 9,000
pilgrims on Friday alone aboard 30 flights while around 115,000 pilgrims
are expected to return home in the coming days.
“Doctors have been put on flights accompanying the pilgrims home,”
airport official Hassan Shaaban told MENA.
“They have been given thermometres and will monitor the condition of
passengers on the flights,” he added.
Passengers are also being asked to fill medical questionnaires on the
flights home in order to avoid crowding at terminals, Shaaban said,
adding that additional officers will man passport control to speed up
queues.
On Friay, the independent daily al-Shorouk reported that a
60-year-old Egyptian pilgrim died in Saudi Arabia on Thursday after she
contracted swine flu.
Two people have died of the disease in Egypt so far and nearly 900
cases have been reported. Egypt, the most populous Arab country with a
population of 80 million, has taken several measures to curb swine flu,
including killing the country’s estimated 200,000 pigs.
It has also restricted visas for pilgrims going to Islamic holy sites
to those between the ages of 25 and 65 and ordered all schools and
universities to close until October 3 over worries about an outbreak.
As well as the annual hajj, which all Muslims are required to make
once in a lifetime if they have the means, the faithful can also make
the lesser pilgrimage known as umrah at any time of the year.
Cairo, Sunday, AFP |
