close
Thursday March 28, 2024

Coronavirus breakout: KSA asks Muslims to wait before making Haj plans

By Agencies & News Report
April 01, 2020

ISLAMABAD: Saudi Arabia is urging Muslims to wait before making plans to attend the annual Haj pilgrimage until there is more clarity about the deadly coronavirus pandemic, the kingdom’s minister for Haj and Umrah said on Tuesday.

Some 2.5 million pilgrims usually flock to the holiest sites of Islam in Makkah and Medina each year for the week-long ritual, which is a once-in-a-lifetime duty for every able-bodied Muslim and a major source of income for the kingdom.

While, the coronavirus infected cases surged to over 846,000 and over 41,500 deaths with over 3,900 new deaths reported across the world on Tuesday.

On the other hand, about three out of four Americans are now, or about to be, under some form of lockdown, as more states tighten measures to fight the coronavirus. Maryland, Virginia, Arizona and Tennessee became the latest states to order citizens to stay at home, meaning 32 of 50 states have taken such steps, reported BBC on Tuesday.

Meanwhile governors are quarrelling with President Donald Trump about the availability of testing kits. The US has more than 175,000 confirmed virus cases and over 3,400 deaths.

The US now has more COVID-19 fatalities than China, where the illness was first reported. Some 245 million people are already under orders to stay at home, or facing such orders which come into effect later on Tuesday.

Almost two-thirds of states have issued directives for their citizens to stay put, while the remaining states have localised orders in effect. In general, the "lockdowns" allow people to only go out to get essential supplies and medicines, or limited forms of exercise.

Meanwhile, a large religious gathering in New Delhi has sparked a manhunt across India for suspected coronavirus cases after being linked to dozens of infections and several deaths. The gathering emerged as one of India´s major virus hotspots after thousands flocked to an Islamic religious centre in the Nizamuddin West neighbourhood of Delhi.

Some returned home to other states after the gathering, but many remained in the vicinity, saying they were trapped because public transport had been shut down due to the virus.

More than half of the 1,800 people who participated in the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi’s Nizamuddin came from two states - Tamil Nadu and Assam - officials have said. The Jamaat’s headquarters in Nizamuddin area has emerged as one of the biggest coronavirus disease hotspots in India with 24 people testing positive and nearly 200 others showing symptoms of COVID-19.

Giving statewise break-up of the number of people present at the congregation held earliest this month, officials said that 510 people came from Tamil Nadu, 281 from Assam, 156 from Uttar Pradesh, 109 from Maharashtra, 107 from Madhya Pradesh, 86 from Bihar, 73 from West Bengal, 55 from Telangana, 46 from Jharkhand, 45 from Karnataka, 34 from Uttarakhand, 22 from Haryana, 21 from Andaman and Nicobar Islands, 19 from Rajasthan, 15 each from Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Odisha, nine from Punjab and five from Meghalaya.

Late Monday and Tuesday, the warren of lanes near the religious centre -- near several prominent Sufi shrines -- were taped off by officials in hazmat suits. More than 1,000 people were taken in buses from the area by police, with 335 admitted to hospital and the rest quarantined, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain told reporters Tuesday.

At least 10 attendees -- including six in southern Telangana state and three in Delhi -- have died from COVID-19 in the past few days, authorities said. The Press Trust of India said around 8,000 people took part in the event, with Telangana officials saying at least 1,000 attendees were from that state alone.

Infections in other states and territories have also been linked to the gathering. Delhi officials estimated that almost 300 foreigners attended the gathering, the Press Trust of India reported.

Once again, Spain hit a new record with 849 coronavirus deaths in 24 hours on Tuesday although health chiefs said the rate of new infections was continuing its downward trend. After Italy, Spain has suffered the world´s second most deadly outbreak which has now claimed 8,189 lives there. The latest figures came a day after the death toll fell slightly, raising hopes the epidemic could be peaking.

Over the same period, the number of confirmed cases rose to 94,417 after another 9,222 people tested positive: a nearly 11-percent increase. That figure was seen as a setback after a week in which the rate had been steadily failing, with Monday´s figures having shown a rise of just over 8.0 percent. "It´s true that today we have a slight increase in the number of cases," said Maria Jose Sierra, from the health ministry´s emergencies coordination unit. But the downward trend "is continuing", she added.

It has also ordered millions of euros worth of supplies to support its health care system, on the brink of collapse following the massive influx of seriously ill patients and a growing number of medical staff falling sick with the virus.

Meanwhile, a UN human rights expert called on Tuesday for lifting international sanctions against countries ranging from Iran to North Korea and Venezuela to ensure that food supplies reach hungry populations during the coronavirus pandemic.

Iran, under sweeping US sanctions for its nuclear and missile programmes, is among the hardest-hit by the new pathogen. Venezuela has notified 113 cases to the World Health Organization (WHO), while isolated North Korea, which borders on China and South Korea, has yet to report any. “The continued imposition of crippling economic sanctions on Syria, Venezuela, Iran, Cuba, and, to a lesser degree, Zimbabwe, to name the most prominent instances, severely undermines the ordinary citizens’ fundamental right to sufficient and adequate food,” Hilal Elver, UN special rapporteur on the right to food, said in a statement.

Elver, an independent expert, said that it was a matter of “humanitarian and practical urgency to lift unilateral economic sanctions immediately.” France, Germany and Britain have exported medical goods to Iran in the first transaction conducted under a trade mechanism set up to barter humanitarian goods and food after the US withdrawal from a 2015 nuclear deal, Germany said on Tuesday.

Iran’s death toll from coronavirus has reached 2,898, with 141 deaths in the past 24 hours, Health Ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur told state TV on Tuesday, adding that the total number of infections has jumped to 44,606.

The Trump administration on Tuesday unveiled a proposal for the lifting of tough Venezuela sanctions, including on the vital oil sector, in exchange for the creation of a power-sharing transitional government made up of members of the opposition and President Nicolas Maduro’s Socialist Party.