Internet hosting Restricted Hajj Required “Double Efforts”: Saudi King

Mecca, Saudi Arabia:

Organising this 12 months’s scaled-down hajj required “double efforts” by Saudi authorities amid the coronavirus pandemic, King Salman stated Friday after being discharged from hospital following gall bladder surgical procedure.

Solely as much as 10,000 folks already residing within the kingdom are collaborating on this 12 months’s pilgrimage, in contrast with 2019’s gathering of some 2.5 million from all over the world.

“Holding the ritual within the shadow of this pandemic… required lowering the numbers of pilgrims, but it surely obliged numerous official companies to place in double efforts,” 84-year-old King Salman stated in a speech learn out on state tv by appearing media minister Majid Al-Qasabi. 

“The hajj this 12 months was restricted to a really restricted variety of folks from a number of nationalities, guaranteeing the ritual was accomplished regardless of the tough circumstances,” he stated.

The speech got here on the event of Eid al-Adha, the Muslim pageant of sacrifice, a day after the king left hospital following a 10-day keep for surgical procedure to take away his gall bladder.

The hajj, which started on Wednesday, is likely one of the 5 pillars of Islam and a should for able-bodied Muslims not less than as soon as of their lifetime.

Authorities applied the “highest well being precautions” in the course of the rituals, the king stated.

Pilgrims, who had been all examined for the virus, are required to put on masks and observe social distancing.

For Friday’s “stoning of the satan”, the final main ritual of the hajj, Saudi authorities supplied the pilgrims pebbles that had been sanitised to guard in opposition to the pandemic.

In an indication that its strict measures had been working, the well being ministry reported no coronavirus instances within the holy websites on Wednesday or Thursday.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)