Swine flu: KSA stops flights, UAE bans pork import

Three gulf countries have taken preventive measures in the wake of the World Health Organisation raising the global swine flu alert to an "imminent" pandemic.

Saudi Arabia has halted flights from countries affected by swine flu, while the UAE has banned the import and sale of pork in the country as a precautionary measure.

The decisions have been taken in the wake of the alarm being raised to the second highest phase that indicates "a pandemic is imminent," officials said.

Khaled Al-Medhel, the director general of King Khaled International Airport in Riyadh, said the incoming flights have been halted as a precautionary measure.

In the UAE, general secretariat of municipalities [GSM] issued a circular on Monday banning import and sale of pork in the country, Mohammad Jalal Al Reyaysa, the manager of communication and information department at Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority (ADFCA) said.

The ban covers cooking pork in hotels [for non Muslims], he added.

The minister of public health will follow up the situation and formulate plans to prevent the disease from entering Qatar, in co-ordination with the state's departments concerned a cabinet meeting in Doha decided this week.

"We are also following instructions given by the Atlanta-based Center for Disease Control, which has been monitoring the disease from the beginning," the health ministry spokesman said.