The first group of Muslim pilgrims arrived today in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on a small pilgrimage or die, seven months after the ceremony was postponed due to the outbreak of the corona virus epidemic.
In small groups surrounded by people who wear a mask and maintain the rules of physical distance, believers began to perform the ritual of tawaf, according to which they should go around the circle around the Kaaba seven times, a square structure to which Muslims turn to pray and which is located in in the middle of the courtyard of the Great Mosque in Mecca.
A small pilgrimage or umrah can be performed all year round as opposed to a time-limited hajj.
Due to the pandemic, the Saudi authorities decided to re-approve the small pilgrimage in three phases with measures intended to prevent the spread of the infection, as during the great hajj organized in late July.
In the first phase, the arrival of 6,000 Saudis and foreigners with a stay is allowed to make the pilgrimage, every day of the week. They are divided into 12 groups to allow free movement and physical distance while circling the Kaaba, Hajj and Umrah Minister Mohamed Benten said last week on Saudi television.
From October 18, the number of believers (Saudis and foreigners with residence) who will be able to come on pilgrimage will increase to 15,000 a day, and another 40,000 believers will be able to come to the Great Mosque for daily prayers.
Believers from abroad will be allowed to come from November 1, when the number of believers who are allowed to come will be raised to 20,000, and those who are allowed to perform prayers to 60,000.
The Ministry of Health will select the countries from which foreign pilgrims come based on the development of the Kovid-19 pandemic.
Only tens of thousands of believers living in Saudi Arabia were able to perform the hajj this summer, compared to 2.5 million participants from all over the world in 2019.
This drastic reduction in the number of pilgrims and health restrictions allowed the authorities to declare that there was not a single infection during the great hajj.
