RIYADH – Saudi health authorities Tuesday assured citizens, residents and visitors that there was no cause for alarm over a new type of flu virus which caused the death of a Saudi national. “There have been two cases of flu over a period of time. This is normal,” said Health Ministry spokesman Khaled Al-Mirghalani. “There are no changes to the conditions put by the Health Ministry to pilgrims,” he said, adding that authorities remain vigilant. The undersecretary for preventive medicine at the Health Ministry, Ziyad Memish, said the “virus has been in the Kingdom for three months.” He, however, insisted the situation was “stable and no new cases have been recorded.” Memish said the Kingdom is not planning to impose new preventive measures on pilgrims. The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed the illness was in the coronavirus family but was not SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. “This is not SARS, it will not become SARS, and it is not SARS-like,” said Gregory Haertl, a WHO spokesman in Geneva. Meanwhile, a Qatari man suffering from the new respiratory virus still remains in critical condition. “He is still in critical condition” at a London hospital, Gregory Haertl said. The 49-year-old Qatari was admitted to an intensive care unit in Doha on Sept. 7 suffering from acute respiratory infection and kidney failure before being transferred to Britain by air ambulance on Sept. 11, the WHO said. – Agencies
