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According to representatives of the organizing Committee, this year the Hajj will take part only 10 thousand people instead of the usual 2.5 million. With more than a third of them are citizens of the Kingdom, and the rest foreign residents of the neighboring Arab countries of the Persian Gulf.

the Pilgrims began arriving in Mecca from Saturday. They measured the temperature and sent to four-day quarantine in local hotels. According to Saudi media, the health workers carry out sanitary processing of the belongings of the participants of the Hajj, some pilgrims have reported that they are given electronic bracelets that allow authorities to monitor their whereabouts.

hundreds of workers spent disinfecting the area around the Kaaba, a Muslim Shrine in the form of a cubical building in the courtyard of al-Masjid al-Haram (the sacred Mosque) in Mecca. Treatment was subjected to and covered by an embroidered gold fabric in the mosque. The government of the Kingdom took this decision to protect the barriers of the Kaaba, saying that the pilgrims are forbidden to touch it, to exclude the possibility of infection with coronavirus. Near the mosque also has several mobile clinics and ambulances to serve the pilgrims who are required to wear masks and observe measures of social distancing.

Since the beginning of the pandemic in Saudi Arabia registered more than 270 thousand cases of infection with coronavirus and almost three thousand deaths. As noted by the BBC, this is one of the largest outbreaks in the middle East. The power of the Kingdom eased restrictive measures a few weeks ago. Since March, the country had strict rules of isolation, including a curfew in most Saudi cities and towns.