Jakarta, NU Online
Health authorities have urged elderly Indonesians to postpone plans to go on pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia following an increase in the number of cases of the deadly Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS, in the kingdom.<>

“It is advisable to postpone this year’s umrah [minor pilgrimage] or hajj for those who have chronic illness, poor immunity or are above 65 years old, and for pregnant women and children,” Health Minister Nafsiah Mboi said Monday as reported by Detik.com.

She said her office had not issued any warnings or restrictions for travel to Saudi Arabia, but was disseminating health advisories to pilgrims.

The ministry has intensified its efforts to prevent a MERS outbreak in Indonesia, given that the country sends the largest contingent of pilgrims of any country to the annual hajj, which this year runs from late September to early October.

Nafsiah said there had been 27 suspected cases of MERS infection in Indonesia since the start of the year, but none of them tested positive for the virus.

She said that unlike bird flu detection, which can take a few hours, detecting the MERS infection was more difficult because it took at least two days to confirm whether a person was infected.

The warning comes after an Indonesian national who was resident in Saudi Arabia died last week from suspected MERS after failing to respond to medical treatment.

The 61-year-old, whose gender was not disclosed, died of renal failure and respiratory difficulties after being treated for seven days at the King Saud hospital in Jeddah.

Tjandra Yoga Aditama, the Health Ministry’s head of research and development, said there had been 111 confirmed cases of MERS in Saudi Arabia since March, 31 of them fatal.

He said some people with existing medical conditions were more vulnerable to the infection, including those with diabetes, chronic lung disease, kidney problems and an impaired immune system.

Editing by Sudarto Murtaufiq