Several restrictions limiting access to this site had been imposed, before being gradually relaxed in recent months, especially for vaccinated pilgrims.
Le Monde with AFP
After a year and a half of drastic sanitary protocol because of the health crisis, Mecca takes up normality. The faithful vaccinated were able to pray side by side, Sunday, October 17, in the Great Mosque of Mecca. A first since the beginning of the Pandemic of Covid-19, after the lifting of social distancing by the authorities in Saudi Arabia.
This mosque of Mecca, the first holy place of Islam, hosted millions of Muslims before the spread of SARS-COV-2, at the end of 2019. Several restrictions limiting access to this site had then been imposed before To be progressively relaxed in recent months, especially for vaccinated pilgrims.
“The Great Mosque can now be used at full capacity, with the obligation for employees and visitors To wear a mask at any time, “announced the Ministry of the Interior in a statement published by the official SPA news agency. The decision applies on Sunday for the benefit of the entirely vaccinated people against CVIV-19, he said.
Public places, such as transport, restaurants or cinemas, can also operate at full capacity throughout the country and the port of the mask is no longer mandatory outdoors, depending on the press release.
The large pilgrimage remains inaccessible
The ground signals marking the distance to be respected have been removed inside and around the large mosque, built around Kaaba. This black cubic structure towards which the Muslims from all over the world are praying during the HADJ, the large annual pilgrimage, however remains inaccessible.
on Twitter, SPA broadcast images of faithful praying side by side. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the videos and photos of a handful of Muslims praying far from each other to Mecca had gone around the world, as they cut with the usual crowds that gather on the site during pilgrimages.
In normal times, the HADJ and the Uumra (small pilgrimage), report some $ 12 billion (10.2 billion euros) per year to Saudi Arabia, which attempts to diversify its ultra-dependent economy oil.
Saudi Arabia has officially registered about 548,000 cases of infection with 8760 deaths. The government accelerated early August the vaccination campaign, in order to boost tourism, hosting events and sports shows and relax restrictions.