Hajj pilgrims will have to be vaccinated against meningitis before they depart to reduce the risk of getting the disease, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday.
Citing Saudi Arabian immigration polices, the CDC said all visitors applying for a Hajj visa are required to carry a certificate proving they have been vaccinated at least 10 days before arrival.
Travelers arriving on other forms of visa are not required to be vaccinated.
The visas, which are free, are for Hajj pilgrims heading to the cities of Jeddah, Medina and Mecca only, and will be issued from mid-Shawwal (the 10th month of the Islamic calendar) until the 25th of Dhual-Qa’dah (the 11th month of the Islamic calendar), according to the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Hajj.
That equates to early this month through to the end of next month.
The mass religious gathering, which draws about 3 million pilgrims from all over the world, could put visitors under threat from diseases that also include polio and seasonal flu, according to the CDC.
Government statistics show that there were about 7,500 registered Muslims in Taiwan last year.
Meningitis is a serious infection of the thin lining that surrounds the brain and spinal cord, which can result in a stiff neck, high fever, sensitivity to light, headaches and vomiting, according to the WHO.
Even when the disease is diagnosed early and adequate treatment is started, between 5 and 10 percent of patients die, typically within 24 to 48 hours of the onset of symptoms, the WHO said.
Meanwhile, while the outbreak of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus in the region has been easing, visitors are still advised to pay attention to their personal hygiene, avoid visiting farmland, and having contact with camels or people with respiratory symptoms, the CDC said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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