State Health Department Takes Measures To Check MERS-COV

KUCHING (Sarawak, Malaysia), Nov 7 (Bernama) -- The East Malaysia state of Sarawak Health Department will screen 559 pilgrims to check any case of infection from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-COV), on Nov 8 and 11. State Health director Dr Zulkifli Jantan on Thursday said the screening would be held at the Kuching International Airport and would slow down the emergence of the pilgrims from the arrival hall. "The department seeks the cooperation of family members receiving the pilgrims to be patient and follow the directives of the authorities and agencies involved," he said in a press statement here. The press statement was distributed during the media briefing on MERS-COV at the State Health Department here. He said pilgrims who had acute respiratory problems would be immediately sent by ambulance to the hospital. Dr Zulkifli also urged the pilgrims to limit their meetings with big crowds for two weeks after their arrival home and take intensive measures to boost their cleanliness. He said the pilgrims were also asked to seek prompt treatment if they had fever, difficulty in breathing or diarrhoea. MERS-CoV is a virus from the coronavirus group which the World Health Organisation (WHO) started reporting since September this year. As of Nov 1, it had caused 63 deaths from 149 cases reported worldwide. He said the cause of the infection and how it was spread had not been determined. "WHO also stressed that the overall level of spread of the infection is not known and there is no vaccine for MERS-COV at the moment," he said. -- BERNAMA