WHO won't block haj visits to Saudi Arabia over Mers
WHO says the virus does not yet carry enough threat to force blocking of Muslim pilgrimages
The World Health Organisation says the Mers virus striking Saudi Arabia is not a "public health emergency of international concern", and is not seeking travel restrictions as the kingdom braces for the Muslim haj pilgrimage.
In a statement following a session of the UN health agency's emergency committee on Wednesday, whose rarity underlined global concerns about the Mers (Middle East respiratory syndrome) coronavirus, the WHO said there was no reason to lift its alert level.
"The [WHO] director-general [Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun] accepted the committee's assessment that the current Mers-CoV situation is serious and of great concern, but does not constitute a public health emergency of international concern at this time," a WHO statement issued in Geneva said.
The meeting came as concern grew over the potential impact of the annual haj in October, when millions of people will head to Islam's two holiest sites of Mecca and Medina, providing a possible means for Mers to spread around the globe.
"It is the unanimous decision of the committee that, with the information now available, and using a risk-assessment approach, the conditions for a public health emergency of international concern have not at present been met," the statement said.