Gulf countries recommended not to travel to Tanzania and Equatorial Guinea, due to the “outbreak” of the deadly Marburg virus.
This came in official statements issued by the UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain, on Saturday evening, the day after a similar recommendation from Saudi Arabia and the Sultanate of Oman.
And “Marburg”, the death rate of those infected with it reaches 88 percent, and it spreads through contact with the blood, secretions, organs, or any other fluids from his body, contaminated surfaces or materials, and last March 8 people were killed in Equatorial Guinea, With a follow-up of 34 contacts, according to the World Health Organization.
And the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, in a statement, on Saturday, that it “advises citizens of the country to postpone travel at the present time to Tanzania and Equatorial Guinea, after they announced that they had detected outbreaks of Marburg virus disease.”
The UAE called on its citizens who are there to take caution and follow the safety instructions issued by the competent authorities.
In Kuwait, the Ministries of Health and Foreign Affairs recommended, in two separate statements on Saturday, “to avoid traveling to Tanzania and Equatorial Guinea at the present time and until the announcement of the control of that virus, based on what was announced by the health authorities in these two countries that monitored outbreaks of the virus.”
And the two ministries recommended to their citizens “in those countries and their neighboring countries the necessity to follow the preventive measures announced by the local health authorities, and to take the necessary preventive measures.”
In Bahrain, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs called in a statement, on Saturday, “all citizens not to travel at the present time to Tanzania and Equatorial Guinea, in order to ensure their safety and preserve their health after announcing an outbreak of Marburg virus disease in them.”
On Friday, the Saudi Public Health Authority recommended, according to a statement, that people avoid traveling to the two African countries until the disease is “controlled.”
On Thursday, the Omani Ministry of Health said, in a statement, that “the virus is highly contagious, with a death rate of 60 to 80 percent,” stressing, “Postponement of travel to these two countries except for extreme necessity, provided that the necessary health precautions are taken.”
The incubation period of the virus ranges from 2 to 21 days, and its most prominent symptoms include high fever, severe headache, severe malaise, severe watery diarrhea, abdominal pain and cramps, nausea, vomiting and severe hemorrhagic symptoms, according to the World Health Organization.
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