Makkah
Mask-clad Muslim pilgrims began this year’s downsized annual Hajj on Wednesday, as the Saudi government limit thae gathering to prevent a coronavirus outbreak during the five-day pilgrimage.
The Hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam and a must for able-bodied Muslims at least once in their lifetime, is usually one of the world’s largest religious gatherings.
But this year only up to 10,000 people already residing in the kingdom will participate in the ritual, a tiny fraction of the 2.5 million pilgrims from around the world that attended last year.
Pilgrims walked into Makkah’s Grand Mosque in batches to begin the ritual with their first “tawaf”, or walk around the Kaaba, a cube-shaped structure draped in gold-embroidered cloth towards which Muslims around the world pray, state television showed.
Pilgrims will be required to wear masks and observe social distancing during a series of religious rites that are completed over five days in the holy city of Makkah and its surroundings in western Saudi Arabia.
Those selected to take part in the Hajj were subject to temperature checks and placed in quarantine as they began trickling into Makkah at the weekend.
State media showed health workers sanitising their luggage, and some pilgrims reported being given electronic wristbands to allow authorities to monitor their whereabouts.—AFP
