There have been growing calls from religious men and experts to postpone Hajj and Umrah (minor pilgrimage). This came after some Egyptian Umrah performers were infected with swine flu in Saudi Arabia. Ali Gomaa, Egypt's Grand Mufti, called on all Islamic jurisprudence academies to issue a unified fatwa (religious opinion) on the opinion of Sharia (Islamic law) in this regard. Commenting on the infection of an Egyptian after performing Umrah, Gomaa told Al-Masry Al-Youm that: "The decision to postpone Umrah due to the spread of the disease depends on technical reports from the ministries of health, agriculture and environment, in addition to the opinion of the Muslim scholars to take a unified stance against this threat."
For its part, the Ministry of Tourism started to coordinate with the Saudi authorities and the Egyptian Ministry of Health to form an Egyptian medical committee in Mecca and Medina to follow up the health conditions of the Egyptian pilgrims, especially after an Egyptian Umrah performer was infected. The Ministry of Tourism said the committee will be in session until the end of the pilgrimage season.
Travel agencies confirmed that they still receive requests for pilgrimage and take normal measures for Umrah. They confirmed that they have not received any assurances from the Hajj Supreme Committee, headed by Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, that Hajj would be cancelled this year. During his meeting with Minister of Health Hatem el-Gabali last Wednesday, Minister of Tourism Zuheir Garana said tourism sector would abide by any government decisions or directives on canceling Umrah or Hajj this year due to the continuing repercussions of swine flu.
A spokesman for the Saudi Ministry of Health announced yesterday that five people have tested positive for swine flu in Saudi Arabia during the past twenty four hours. This brings the number of the confirmed cases to 53 until the paper went to the press.
In Egypt, fever hospitals at Sharqia, Luxor, Qalyubia, South Sinai, Kafr El-Sheikh and Alexandria governorates received six suspected cases of swine flu. The hospitals checked the patients and took samples from them to be analyzed by the central laboratories.
