The holy month of fasting began Saturday with swine flu surveillance and treatment activities heightened in Saudi Arabia as Umrah pilgrim arrivals surged, though the numbers in the past week were well below usual. The swine flu death toll rose to 16 Thursday after the health ministry announced two more deaths, one of a 40-year-old man and the other of a 26-year-old woman, without stating their nationalities. Flu cases are rising nearly all over the region. The UAE Friday reported its first death, that of a 63-year-old Indian man who died in hospital despite being treated for symptoms of influenza A(H1N1. That apart, warnings from governments and the World Health Organization have heightened fears of being in crowded places. During Ramadan in Saudi Arabia, night-time eating out peaks and draws all sorts of food handlers out along the streets, making hygiene and food safety a serious concern for the health authorities. In Jeddah, Balad Municipality has placed stringent hygiene conditions on the traditional food stalls licensed to operate in downtown marketplaces during Ramadan. For the pilgrims, the health ministry has made it mandatory for pilgrim accommodations to be provided with medical teams. New wave warning Health Ministry spokesman Khalid Marglani has warned of a new wave of the disease when the summer tourist season ends and Saudis return from abroad en masse in order to spend the holy month of fasting in the Kingdom. The fear is that the return of these tourists may contribute to another wave of the virus from abroad, though the majority of the deaths that have occurred so far in the Kingdom were reportedly caused by local contagion. Also, the end of summer is approaching, when climactic changes occur, including a drop in temperature and a change in the humidity level, which could revive human susceptibility to the H1N1 virus. The summer season officially ends Sept. 23. Umrah arrivals surged in the week before Ramadan but the overall flow is lower this year in view of restrictions placed by Egypt, Iran and Iraq, among other countries, on those permitted to undertake the minor pilgrimage during Ramadan because of swine flu. Marglani has said that though thermal cameras have been installed in the country's airports and ports to ensure success in detecting and quickly treating swine flu cases, ultimately there is no completely effective and reliable solution with regard to swine flu detection. Consequently, the measures applied by the national swine flu campaign are constantly updated with new epidemiological requirements and medical procedures for detecting and treating cases of swine flu. After the region's first swine flu death in July, health ministers and WHO officials met in Cairo and recommended discouraging or banning people over 65, pregnant women and children under 12 from joining either the Umrah, which peaks during Ramadan, or the Haj.
