This year’s downsized hajj may prove to be the safest ever despite the ever-present threat posed by the novel coronavirus.
In past years pilgrims have faced a host of viral illnesses, with some falling sick, but a raft of measures are in place for the relatively modest number allowed to attend this year.
The hajj is usually attended by upwards of two million Muslims, who converge on the Saudi city Mecca for one of the world’s biggest annual gatherings.
That poses enormous health and logistical challenges.
In the past, pilgrims returning home have developed respiratory diseases after mingling with large crowds and staying in cramped pilgrim camps where social distancing was unheard of.
Kuwaiti worshipper Alia al-Dulaimi told AFP she suffered a severe cough for three months after performing the pilgrimage in 2003.
“I couldn’t even get close to the Kaaba at the time because of how many people were there,” she said.
The Kaaba is a large cube-shaped structure in the centre of Mecca’s Grand Mosque towards which Muslims around the world pray.
“I wish I was in Mecca this year to see the new health measures,” Dulaimi said.
This year, for the first time in modern history, Saudi officials have drastically restricted the number of pilgrims allowed to participate and enforced strict new health measures.
Just 10,000 Muslims, all resident in the kingdom, are being allowed to perform the hajj – 0.4 percent of last year’s 2.5 million attendees from across the globe.
But despite the pandemic, many pilgrims said they felt safer joining a limited number of fellow faithful for the hajj as the risk of both infection and logistical upsets was limited.
A stampede in 2015 that killed up to 2,300 worshippers was one of a series of deadly incidents that had sparked criticism of how the pilgrimage was managed.
Pilgrims had to undergo COVID-19 tests before arriving in Mecca and will be required to quarantine afterwards.
Attendees were given elaborate amenity kits that included sterilized pebbles for the ritual Stoning of the Devil, disinfectant, masks and a prayer rug, according to the hajj ministry.
