The government has issued warnings to travelers, especially pilgrims and migrant workers, to prevent them from contracting the novel coronavirus (nCoV), a new respiratory illness that is believed to have originated in the Middle East.



The director general of disease control and environmental health at the Health Ministry, Tjandra Yoga Aditama, said on Monday that the ministry had coordinated with all health authorities and ports in provinces, regencies and municipalities to warn people wanting to travel to Saudi Arabia on haj pilgrimages or for work about the dangers of the new virus.



Health and port authorities in the regions have also been urged to heighten their surveillance of cases relating to severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) that could be found in clusters, Tjandra said.



'All new information on the virus released by the WHO has been dispatched to all regions and ports. Health and port authorities are also instructed to campaign against the virus among Muslims bound for the Holy Land. It is important for pilgrims to maintain their health during their pilgrimages to avoid any infections by the virus,' he said.



He cited lung infections and high fever as symptoms of the virus.



The government took the measures after France on Sunday confirmed two cases of the new virus, which is related to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus that spread in 2003, killing hundreds.



The WHO has reported 33 cases of the respiratory virus since it was identified in September 2012. It has so far claimed 18 lives, 79 percent of whom were male and between the ages of 24 and 94. Most of those infected had traveled to Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan or Pakistan. The virus can be transferred between humans.



Since 2007, Indonesia has sent around 210,000 pilgrims annually to the Holy Land during the pilgrimage season, but around 500,000 Indonesians made pilgrimages in 2012 and the figure was expected to double this year.



The National Labor Placement and Protection Agency (BNP2TKI) chief Jumhur Hidayat said while the agency was disseminating all necessary information on the virus, the agency had ordered all BNP2TKI staff at all international airports to examine arriving workers to check whether they showed symptoms of any illnesses.



'Arriving workers with respiratory problems will undergo special treatment to prevent the deadly virus from entering the country,' he said, adding that prior to departure, workers were required to undergo a general check-up.

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