CAIRO: The Ministry of Health set an age range for Umrah and Hajj pilgrims traveling this year at 25-65 years old and halted all bookings for Umrah starting Wednesday, announced Magdy Rady, official cabinet spokesperson. The precautionary measures against the H1N1 virus are among five other decisions restricting travel announced after an emergency meeting Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif held with the Ministers of Health, Interior, Defense, Endowments, Civil Aviation, Foreign Affairs and Tourism. The decision to set the minimum age for those going to Saudi Arabia at 25 is in line with efforts to control the spread of swine flu ahead of the start of the academic year, since those under 25 are usually school and college students more likely to contract the virus, Minister of Health Hatem El-Gabaly said on "El-Beit Betak television show. Egypt applied more severe restrictions than required by the WHO, which set the minimum age of the pilgrims at 12, and the maximum age at 65. At the same time, the door for booking Umrah trips was closed August 13. The Ministry of Health said it maintains the right to take any precautionary measures it deems necessary to prevent the spread of swine flu in Egypt, according to a statement. Airports and seaports are also going to step up measures taken to detect the virus. Finally, the Cabinet will be ready to hold emergency meetings in the upcoming period in case additional decisions are made regarding the issue. "These precautions have two main objectives; to protect the citizen inside the country and to protect the person traveling, said El-Gabaly. Travelers are also required to submit a health certificate proving they don't have any chronic diseases. "It is a felony to forge this certificate and doctors who do so will face trial in a criminal court, El-Gabaly said, adding that those certificates can be issued from public and private health institutions. He explained that even visa holders won't be allowed to leave Egypt's airports if they fail to submit the certificate. However, these decisions do not apply to people who have permanent residency in Saudi Arabia. Even though there has been a number of restrictions on those traveling to Saudi Arabia set by the Arab health ministers meeting in Cairo last month, travel agencies who were approved by the Ministry of Tourism to organize Hajj and Umrah trips did not officially receive any orders. "Until this day we haven't received any official orders from the Ministry of Health or the Ministry of Tourism regarding precautionary measures against swine flu, said Bassel Amer, in charge of Hajj and Umrah trips at Maya Travel. "Aside from the usual health guidelines set by the two ministries, we haven't received anything, however we were notified that the bookings for the Umrah will end in the coming few days, he added.
