Saudi Arabia has stopped granting visas to workers from
Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the countries worst-hit by the deadly Ebola
virus, the labour ministry announced on Monday.
The “preventive measure” is based on “directives from the
foreign and health ministries to avoid the spread of Ebola to the kingdom, the
official news agency SPA reported.
The virus, for which there is no treatment or vaccine, has
claimed 1,552 lives out of 3,069 reported cases — 694 in Liberia, 430 in
Guinea, 422 in Sierra Leon and six in Nigeria, according to latest figures from
the World Health Organisation.
The hajj annual pilgrimage, the world’s biggest Muslim
gathering, draws two million people to Saudi Arabia each year, including many
from the West African countries affected by the Ebola outbreak. This year it
falls in October.
The “temporary suspension” of labour visas from the three
African nations “will not affect the labour market in Saudi Arabia” where the
number of workers from these countries “is very little,” SPA quoted deputy
labour minister Mufrej al-Haqbani as saying.
He said laboratory tests before arrival were “strictly
required” by the labour ministry for all foreigners coming from West Africa.
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