This year’s Hajj pilgrims on Saturday finished the procedures of a weeklong home isolation, according to the health protocol approved for the major Islamic pilgrimage this year that begins next week. Pilgrims started arriving in Makkah, where they will undergo four days of quarantine at designated hotels in the holy city.
The strict health protocol was approved by the Saudi government to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Hajj begins on the 8th of Dhul Hijjah, the last month of the Islamic year 1441, and runs to the 12th or 13th of Dhul Hijjah, corresponding to July 28-August 2, 2020. The Saudi authorities decided to hold the pilgrimage in the midst of exceptional circumstances caused by the Coronavirus pandemic, necessitating strict precautionary measures that have been applied to ensure a safer Hajj.
The pilgrimage this year is limited to citizens and residents of Saudi Arabia, who meet preset conditions and have been subjected to quarantine procedures. Individuals from 160 nationalities residing in the Kingdom have been selected to perform the Hajj. The number of pilgrims has been dramatically reduced to ensure social distancing measures are adhered to.
Minister of Hajj and Umrah, Dr. Muhammad Saleh bin Taher Benten, said the organisation of Hajj for 2020 is being carried out according to a strategic plan and strict health protocols. These comprehensive plans will be implemented by security and health and service agencies. The plans include the provision of the best of health services and most appropriate crowd control, in line with the precautionary measures and preventive protocols formulated by the Ministry of Health to ensure pilgrims’ health safety.
“We are using engineering standards and protocols, whether in arrivals, or in transport by buses, and in the circumambulation around the Kaaba, and in Saee (Hajj ritual), and services that the pilgrim need but in a way to safeguard them against infection, without transmission of the virus to the pilgrim or to the workers also serving this pilgrim,” Benten said.
Health determinants were the basis in the process of selecting pilgrims residing inside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and there were no exceptions to anyone. The Hajj pilgrimage this year will not be performed by any government official or participant in the service of pilgrims.
The Hajj Security Force has put a mechanism fixing ways of entrance and exit from and to the Grand mosque during the pilgrimage, he said, with passage for pilgrims extending from the southern and western premises of the mosque, as well as special passages around the circumambulation and Saee areas.
Tents to accommodate pilgrims have been set up at Mount Arafat by the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah, which also put in place plans to transport the pilgrims while strict social distancing measures are being observed. Pilgrims arriving at the hotels in Makkah received a special kit provided by the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah. It contained a face mask, Hajj ihram garments, a prayer rug, ritual stones and hygiene items such as shaving instruments, personal-care tools and a guidebook for the pilgrimage. As for the isolation procedures, the pilgrims must wear electronic bracelets to ensure that they are adhering to ‘domestic isolation’ procedures before they head to the holy places. They have to undergo the ‘institutional isolation’ from the 4th to the 8th of the Islamic month of Dhul Hijjah (Saturday July 25 to Tuesday July 28) in Makkah, according to Ministry of Hajj and Umrah officials.
(Photos by Ministry of Media, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia)