Saudi Arabia: Hajj pilgrimage returning to pre-Covid numbers

Islam’s annual hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia will return to pre-pandemic ranges this 12 months after restrictions noticed the annual non secular commemoration curtailed over issues in regards to the coronavirus.

The hajj represents one of many world’s largest gatherings of individuals. (AP photograph)

By Associated Press: Islam’s annual hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia will return to pre-pandemic ranges this 12 months after restrictions noticed the annual non secular commemoration curtailed over issues in regards to the coronavirus, authorities say.

The hajj, required of all able-bodied Muslims as soon as of their life, represents one of many world’s largest gatherings of individuals. Before the pandemic, the pilgrimage drew tens of millions every year to Islam’s holy metropolis of Mecca, house to the cube-shaped Kaaba that observant Muslims pray towards 5 occasions a day.

In 2019, over 2.4 million folks took half within the pilgrimage. But in 2020, amid the lockdowns sparked by the pandemic, Saudi Arabia drastically curtailed the hajj with as as few as 1,000 residents of Saudi Arabia permitted to participate. It was an unprecedented transfer unseen even through the 1918 flu epidemic that killed tens of tens of millions worldwide.

In 2021, some 60,000 residents of Saudi Arabia attended. Last 12 months noticed 1 million devoted carry out the pilgrimage.

Speaking on Monday evening at a convention in regards to the hajj within the Red Sea port metropolis of Jeddah, Saudi Hajj and Umrah Minister Tawfiq bin Fawzan al-Rabiah introduced the lifting of the restrictions.

ALSO READ | Online software for Haj 2022 pilgrimage opens, folks as much as 65 years of age can apply

“I bring you two bits of good news in this meeting. The first: The return of the numbers of pilgrims to what they were before the pandemic without any age restrictions,” al-Rabiah mentioned, based on the state-run Saudi Press Agency.

“And the second: Allowing any hajj mission from around the world to deal with any licensed company that meets the requirements of the pilgrims of those countries,” he added.

Only these between the ages of 18 to 65 may attend the hajj in recent times. Saudi Arabia additionally had restricted which personal firms may conduct journey preparations for the hajj.

The coronavirus isn’t the primary public well being catastrophe to strike the hajj. The kingdom’s Al Saud ruling household stakes its legitimacy on this oil-rich nation on overseeing and defending the hajj websites. Ensuring the hajj occurs has been a precedence for them — and in addition a principal financial driver bringing billions of {dollars} of non-oil income to Saudi Arabia.

Disease outbreaks have at all times been a priority surrounding the hajj. Pilgrims fought off a malaria outbreak in 632, cholera in 1821 killed an estimated 20,000, and one other cholera outbreak in 1865 killed 15,000 earlier than spreading worldwide.

ALSO READ: Covid-19: Saudi Arabia to permit 60,000 folks for Hajj pilgrimage

More just lately, Saudi Arabia confronted hazard from a special coronavirus, one which causes the Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS. The kingdom elevated its public well being measures through the hajj in 2012 and 2013, urging the sick and the aged not to participate.

In latest years, Saudi officers additionally instituted bans on pilgrims coming from international locations affected by the Ebola virus.

It wasn’t instantly clear what well being precautions can be taken for the hajj, which falls based on the lunar-based Islamic calendar this 12 months on the finish of June. While Saudi Arabia has no requirement for coronavirus vaccines or testing, it does require pilgrims to be vaccinated for different maladies.

Muslims have been prohibited from kissing or touching the cube-shaped Kaaba, the metaphorical home of God on the heart of Mecca that pilgrims circle as they full the hajj.

The hajj additionally includes shut contact in giant crowds, which in 2015 noticed over 2,400 folks killed in a crush and stampede.

Published On:

Jan 10, 2023