Scaled-down Hajj restricted to fully vaccinated pilgrims

Hajj pilgrims streamed out of the holy city of Mecca ­towards Mina on Sunday, the second day of a massively scaled-down version of Islam’s greatest pilgrimage.

Muslim pilgrims rest at their camp in Mina, near Mecca. Picture: AFP

Hajj pilgrims streamed out of the holy city of Mecca ­towards Mina on Sunday (local time), the second day of a massively scaled-down version of Islam’s greatest pilgrimage, which is being held in the shadow of the coronavirus for the second year running.

Authorities in Saudi Arabia are allowing only 60,000 fully vaccinated citizens and residents to take part, far from the vast crowds of 2.5 million pilgrims who ­descend on Mecca in normal times.

Health authorities confirmed at a briefing late on Sunday that not a single Covid-19 case had been reported among the pilgrims.

Starting on Saturday, groups of the faithful performed the “tawaf” at Mecca’s Grand Mosque, circling the Kaaba, a large cube draped in golden-embroidered black cloth towards which Muslims around the world pray.

After that, they made their way to Mina, where they were to spend the night. An official confirmed on Sunday that all the pilgrims were now in Mina.

Mina sits in a narrow valley surrounded by rocky mountains, 5km from the Grand Mosque, and is transformed each year into a vast encampment for pilgrims.

They were transported on buses that were only half-full to respect social distancing rules, and authorities provided 3000 electric cars to transport the elderly and those with limited mobility.

“We have applied social distancing inside the camps where there are four pilgrims in each room. We have put barriers between each bed to apply social distancing,” tour operator Hadi Fouad said.

“For the common areas at the camp, like the prayer area and the cafeteria, we have assigned a security company whose guards are spread throughout the camp to make sure there is no crowding.”

In the high point of the Hajj, worshippers were due to climb Mount Arafat on Monday. Also known as the Mount of Mercy, it is the site where it is believed the prophet Mohammed delivered his final sermon.

Worshippers will pray and recite passages from the Koran there for several hours.

After descending the following day, they will gather pebbles and perform the symbolic “stoning of the devil”.

This year’s pilgrimage is larger than the pared-down version staged in 2020, but is drastically smaller than in normal times, creating resentment among Muslims abroad who are barred once again.

Participants were chosen from more than 558,000 applicants through an online vetting system, with the event confined to fully vaccinated adults aged 18-65 with no chronic illnesses.

Saudi Arabia has so far recorded more than 509,000 corona­virus infections, including over 8000 deaths. About 20 million vaccine doses have been administered in the country of more than 34 million people.

Pilgrims were being divided into groups of 20 “to restrict any exposure to only those 20, limiting the spread of infection”, spokesman Mohammad al-Bijawi said.

AFP