RIYADH/NEW DELHI/TEHRAN/BEIJING/HONG KONG: Saudi Arabia on Wednesday suspended the year-round "Umrah" pilgrimage over fears of the new coronavirus spreading to Islam´s holiest cities, an unprecedented move that raises fresh uncertainty over the annual Haj.
The kingdom said the suspension was provisional, but with the Umrah attracting millions of people annually, the decision has a huge potential impact.
The Gulf state has decided "to suspend Umrah temporarily for citizens and residents in the kingdom", the interior ministry said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency. They were also barred from "visits to the Prophet´s (PBUH) mosque in Medina", according to a foreign ministry tweet. The move comes after authorities, alarmed over the spread of coronavirus across the Middle East, last week suspended visas for the Umrah and barred citizens from the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council from entering Makkah and Medina.
Saudi Arabia on Monday confirmed its first case of new coronavirus after one its citizens who had returned from COVID-19 hotspot Iran tested positive.
The decision to suspend the Umrah comes ahead of the holy fasting month of Ramazan starting in late April, which is considered a favourable period for pilgrims to perform it.
Around two-thirds of the 18.3 million Umrah participants in 2018 were citizens and residents of the kingdom, according to government statistics. It is unclear how the coronavirus will affect the Haj, due to start in late July.
Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Wednesday he will stay away from celebrations during one of the country´s biggest festivals as coronavirus fears gripped the country of 1.3 billion people.
Modi said he would stay away from events for Holi, the "festival of colours", which is normally a raucous day when paint and water are splashed in the streets of many cities. "Experts across the world have advised to reduce mass gatherings to avoid the spread of COVID-19 Novel Coronavirus," Modi said on Twitter.
"Hence, this year I have decided not to participate in any Holi Milan programme." The Hindu festival, which this year falls next Tuesday, marks the beginning of spring. Ever since he became prime minister in 2014, Modi has taken part in high-profile events for Holi and other major festivals, mingling freely with crowds. India has reported 28 cases of the new coronavirus so far, up from five on Tuesday, with 16 of them Italian tourists who have been quarantined in New Delhi.
Meanwhile, coronavirus has killed 92 people in Iran, officials said Wednesday, as the world´s deadliest outbreak outside China spread to all but one of the country´s provinces.
Iran´s President Hassan Rouhani meanwhile dismissed a US offer to help it fight the novel coronavirus outbreak, charging that Washington hides behind a "mask of sympathy" while sanctions are depriving the country of medicine.
The Islamic republic reported 15 new deaths from COVID-19 and 586 additional cases, bringing the overall toll to 92 dead and 2,922 infected. "This virus doesn´t have wings to fly. We´re the ones spreading it," health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour, who gave the latest figures, told a televised news conference.
While China on Wednesday reported 38 more deaths from the new coronavirus but a fall in fresh cases for a third consecutive day.
The death toll nationwide is now 2,981, the National Health Commission said, with more than 80,200 people infected in total.
There were 115 new cases in central Hubei province -- the epicentre where the virus first emerged in December last year -- and only four elsewhere in the country.
The figures in China have generally been declining in recent weeks as a series of draconian quarantine measures seem to be paying off. But there are mounting concerns about infections being brought back into the country from other global hotspots.
In total there have been 13 confirmed cases of the virus being imported to the mainland -- all in Chinese nationals returning from overseas. Quarantine measures have been put in place on people arriving in Beijing, Shanghai and southern Guangdong province from virus-hit countries.
The number of suspected infections in China fell to the lowest level since late January, at 520 cases -- down from nearly 29,000 suspected cases reported in early February.
Countries rushed to protect their supply of masks on Wednesday as panic buying, hoarding and theft spread over fears of the deadly coronavirus epidemic, with global health officials warning that stocks of protective gear were rapidly dwindling.
More than 90,000 people have been infected and around 3,200 have died worldwide, with Iraq reporting its first death from the disease on Wednesday while dozens have died so far in neighbouring Iran.
The death rate is around 3.4 percent, much higher than the seasonal flu at under one percent, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The death toll in the United States climbed to nine, many linked to a nursing home near Seattle, while the overall number of infections shot past 100.
The WHO voiced concern that masks, goggles and other protective equipment used by health workers were running out due to "rising demand, hoarding and misuse". "We can´t stop COVID-19 without protecting our health workers," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva, noting prices of masks have surged sixfold and the cost of ventilators has tripled.
In Italy, a top civil protection official said the country, which does not make face masks, is getting 800,000 of them from South Africa but needs at least 10 million more.
Italian hospitals had initial supplies but the rapid spread of the epidemic has put the health system under strain, said Civil Protection Department director Luigi D´Angelo.
South Korea makes 10 million masks a day and the government has ordered manufacturers to supply half their output to post offices, pharmacies, and a nationwide agricultural co-operative for sale at a fixed low price, with a five-per-person limit.
The virus has infected more than 5,600 people and killed 32 in South Korea, with more new daily cases there now than in China.
Indonesian police seized 600,000 face masks from a Jakarta-area warehouse after the country´s first confirmed cases of coronavirus sparked panic buying and sent prices for prevention products skyrocketing.
Russia issued a decree Wednesday banning the export of masks, respirators and hazmat suits to ensure access to the items for medics treating coronavirus patients and the public.
The US Federal Reserve´s policy-setting committee slashed its key interest rate by half a point to a range of 1.0-1.25 percent -- the first between-meeting cut since the height of the global 2008 financial crisis. But the move failed to impress investors on Wall Street, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average finishing nearly three percent lower.
Most Asian and European equities, however, rose on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the pet dog of a coronavirus patient in Hong Kong was confirmed to be infected with the disease, in a likely case of human-to-animal transmission, authorities said on Wednesday.
The canine, which belongs to a 60-year-old woman patient, had repeatedly tested "weak positive" for the new coronavirus since Friday, when it was quarantined at an animal centre.
The city´s Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) said repeated tests suggest the dog -- a pomeranian -- has "a low-level of infection".
The AFCD said experts from universities and the World Organisation for Animal Health have unanimously agreed that "it is likely to be a case of human-to-animal transmission". The pomeranian has not shown any novel coronavirus symptoms the AFCD said.
Since last Friday, all pets of people in Hong Kong infected with the coronavirus are to be quarantined for 14 days. Two dogs are already in isolation.
