No Iranian Hajj pilgrim has been infected with the A/H1N1 virus, the Leader's representative for Hajj Affairs, Ayatollah Mohammad Mohammadi Reyshahri, says.
"Fortunately, no Iranian Hajj pilgrim has been diagnosed with the common symptoms of swine flu," Reyshahri told reporters during a visit to the Iranian Red Crescent Medical Center for the Hajj Organization in Mena, Saudi Arabia, on Friday.
Reyshahri asked Iranian officials not to unduly distress the Iranian public over swine flu.
On Wednesday, Iran's Minister of Health, Marzieh Vahid-Dastjerdi, said that all Iranian Hajj pilgrims will be examined at both the airports in Saudi Arabia and Iran.
She further added that more than a million Iranians across the country have tested positive for the A/H1N1 virus infection.
According to Vahid-Dastjerdi, Iran will face a new wave of swine flu as the weather gets colder and as Iranian Hajj pilgrims return home from Saudi Arabia.
The swine flu outbreak in Saudi Arabia has forced Muslim countries to set restrictions on sending pilgrims on the Hajj.
Iranian authorities decided to bar Iranians from participating in the Umrah (minor hajj pilgrimage) during the holy month of Ramadan (the month of September during 2009) in an attempt to contain the spread of the A/H1N1 virus.
Swine flu was first detected in Mexico in April 2009 and was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) in June.
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