Skip to main content

Saudi swine flu death toll reaches 7

Friday, August 07, 2009 RIYADH: A Saudi disabled girl has died from swine flu, pushing the kingdom's flu death toll up to seven, the healthy ministry said on Thursday.The 12-year-old girl, who died on Wednesday two days after being admitted to hospital in al-Hasa, in Eastern Province, was suffering from an underdeveloped central nervous system, the ministry said in a statement carried by the official news agency.On Tuesday, the ministry announced the death of a Sri Lankan man and a Saudi teenager from swine flu.The ministry said on Friday that total A(H1N1) flu infections in the kingdom were nearing 600.The government said it was doubling surveillance efforts as the peak season approaches for the umrah, or lesser pilgrimage, to the Muslim holy places of Mecca and Medina in the west of the country.Hundreds of thousands of people from around the world are expected to undertake the umrah during the fasting month of Ramadan which starts later in August, heightening fears of the virus spreading.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

India's swine flu death rate is increasing

Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in...

Tennis: Clijsters wins US Open, second time

NEW YORK: Kim Clijsters of Belgium won the US Open on Sunday by defeating Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark 7-5, 6-3 in the final.She is the first mother to win a Grand Slam title since Evonne Goolagong in 1980, the victory coming just five weeks after she returned to the sport following a 27-month retirement. She was the first wildcard, man or woman, to win a US Open title in the history of the tournament.

42 killed in wave of Iraq bombings

BAGHDAD: At least 42 people were killed and nearly 100 wounded in a spate of bomb attacks near the restive northern Iraqi city of Mosul and in the capital Baghdad on Monday, police said. In the deadliest single attack, two booby-trapped lorries exploded before dawn in the village of Khaznah, east of Mosul, leaving 25 people dead and 70 others wounded. Thirty-five houses were destroyed in the village, which is home to members of the tiny Shabak community, a sect of Kurdish origin. In Baghdad, two car bombs went off as day labourers were gathering in the early morning hours looking for jobs.The first bomb exploded at Hay al-Amel, in the west of the capital, killing nine people and injuring 46. The second bomb attack in Shurta Arbaa in the north of the city killed seven people and wounded 35 others.