Over 600,000 protective face masks will be given out in Makkah to counter swine flu as millions pilgrims prepare to conduct rituals at the holy sites. Charities will hand out sealed hygienic packages from 37 stalls between Makkah, Mina, Arafat and during the “Nafrah” return to Makkah via Muzdalifa and Mina, each one containing three face masks and 12 sterilizing wipes. – SPA 600 guests of King from 28 countries arrive MINA – 600 pilgrims in the second and third groups of guests of King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, arrived on Sunday from Romania, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Turkey, Czech, Eastern Russia, the Ukraine, Bulgaria, Greece, Australia, Syria, Jordan, Bangladesh, France, Canada, Albania, Hungary, Kosovo, Macedonia, Poland, Serbia, Croatia, Republic of Yemen, GuineaConakry, Mauritania, Burkina Faso and Morocco. The total number of the King's guests to have arrived is 750 out of a total of 1,300 expected. – SPA New air ambulances support volunteers MINA – The Saudi Red Crescent will operate two new air ambulances during this Haj pilgrimage. The Red Crescent will also have extra support teams at centers on the Madina Highway and increased numbers of patrolling ambulances on all roads leading to Makkah and the holy sites. The Jamarat Bridge Zone and Jabal Al-Rahma in Arafat will also have extra man-numbers. A Red Crescent Central Operations Room is in place while volunteer workers and students from medical colleges have added their numbers to awareness campaign workers, first-aid medics and motorbike teams in the Grand Mosque Zone. There are now 121 ambulance centers staffed by 99 doctors and equipped with 340 ambulances. – SPA Giant screens and posters on safe behavior MAKKAH – Giant television screens have been erected at Mina to promote Civil Defense health and safety advice and regulations. The screens, erected by the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs along with 500 billboards, warn against certain types of behavior that may put pilgrims' safety at risk and are displayed in 13 languages. Warnings against overcrowding and shoving have also been printed on three million bottles of Zamzam water given to pilgrims on arrival in the Kingdom and the holy sites. Civil Defense will also provide audio and video-cassettes for pilgrims on safety guidelines along with 700,000 leaflets entitled “The message of Haj”.
