Some Saudi Men Mock Warnings of Deadly Camel-Linked Virus by...Openly Kissing Their Camels

With world health officials scrambling to contain the outbreak of a deadly virus plaguing Saudi Arabia that research has suggested may originate in camels, some Saudi men have staged photos of themselves kissing their camels in defiance of public health warnings.

The World Health Organization held an urgent meeting Tuesday on the Middle East Respiratory Virus outbreak and on Wednesday said the threat had become more serious and urgent.

A Saudi worker wears a mouth and nose mask as he rides a camel at a camel farm on May 12, 2014 outside Riyadh. Saudi Arabia has urged its citizens and foreign workers to wear masks and gloves when dealing with camels to avoid spreading the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus as health experts said the animal was the likely source of the disease. (AFP/Getty Images/Fayez Nureldine)

The Saudi Agriculture Ministry on Sunday advised those who handle camels to wear masks and protective gloves, while those who consume camel products should make sure the meat is cooked and milk boiled.

But the warnings didn’t stop one camel handler from posting a video on social media where he is seen face mask-free, jovially kissing and hugging his camels and saying according to Al Arabiya, "Look at me! Sneeze, sneeze! They say there's Corona in this."

"Look at me! Sneeze, sneeze!" exclaimed this man openly mocking Saudi government warnings against unprotected contact with camels (Image source: YouTube)

By “Corona,” he was referring to the MERS coronavirus.

The man then said of one of his camels, "She says no. Is there Corona in you? She says no."

In another undated photo that is being circulated in the Saudi media, a different man is seen kissing a camel on the mouth. That photo can be seen at this link.

A second case of the deadly virus which first emerged in Saudi Arabia in 2012 appeared in the United States earlier this week.

Since its first appearance, at least 400 people have been infected, and more than 100 people have died, the vast majority in Saudi Arabia.

A Reuters photographer who visited a camel market in the Saudi capital Riyadh saw only one out of dozens who worked there wearing a mask.

A camel farmer Abdul Juraiwi Al Qahani, whom Gulf News described as well-known, told the Saudi news site Al Weam that he wanted the health ministry “to produce a single evidence that camels were the source of the coronavirus” and asked government officials to review their data on the camel links to the illness.

The Saudi government on Tuesday announced five new deaths from MERS, as well as four new infections.

In an effort to contain the virus, the Saudi Agriculture Ministry said it plans to attach electronic chips to all camels to keep closer tabs on their origins.

Here is the video of the Saudi mocking the possible link between camels and MERS: