"Saudi Arabia has taken measures to deal with any epidemic that may break out during the annual hajj pilgrimage, a minister said in remarks published Monday, stressing that the spread of a mystery illness from the same family as the deadly SARS virus was "limited."The kingdom has taken "preventive measures towards pilgrims ... and has made practical and scientific arrangements to deal with any epidemic that might be discovered," Health Minister Abdullah al-Rabeeah was quoted as saying in Al-Hayat daily.Pilgrims in their thousands have begun arriving in the kingdom for this month's hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam which must be performed at least once in a lifetime by all Muslims who are able to do so.The Geneva-based World Health Organisation (WHO) has identified a virus which caused the death of a Saudi national as being of the coronavirus family."

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