Nearly 2m Muslims perform hajj this year

The total number of Muslims who performed Hajj (pilgrimage) this year nosedived by 37.4 as the Saudi authorities sharply slashed hajj visa permits and urged Muslims to postpone their pilgrimage due to going-on holy shrines expansion project. According to official figures released by the Saudi Central Department of Statistics and Information on Tuesday, the number of pilgrims this year slipped to 1.98 million, 1.37 million from outside the Kingdom and 600,000 from inside the Kingdom. Saudi authorities reduced the numbers of pilgrims from abroad by roughly 21 percent and the number of permits for domestic pilgrims by more than half this year. The kingdom cut countries' pilgrims quotas over pending completion of massive projects to expand the capacity of the Grand Mosque in Makkah, Islam's holiest place of worship. Meanwhile, Spokesman of the Saudi Ministry of Interior Major General Mansour Al-Turki stated in a press conference Tuesday that the process of transporting pilgrims over the last 24 hour went smoothly. The transportation of pilgrims to ascend to Arafat and then down to Muzdalifah and Mina before going to perform the circumambulation ritual around Kaaba, one of the pillars of Hajj, in Makkah was done in comfort and tranquility, Al-Turki said in statements carried by the state news agency (SPA). He unveiled that 40 percent of pilgrims were transported by shuttle bus trips, 25 percent by the train and 35 percent opted to walk all the way on foot or by 25-passenger private vehicles. For his part, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Hajj for Hajj Affairs Hatem bin Hussein Gadi said 23,000 buses participated in transporting pilgrims from Al-Madinah to Makkah this year. According to the Ministry's plan, 50 percent of pilgrims will be staying at their camps on the 12th day of Zul-Hijja, Thursday, while those opting to leave the Mina camp earlier will be allowed to quit, a new regulation to lift pressure on traffic to Makkah on that day, he declared. In record figures compared to previous years, only 169 complaints were registered, 7998 reported missing, and 98 police notifications about objects missed were opened, with 43 recovered. In the meantime, Spokesman of the Saudi Ministry of Health Dr. Khalid Marghalani said the field and follow-up reports and epidemic fact-finding works all indicate that the health situation of pilgrims is good with no epidemic or quarantine or serious illness case, particularly corona virus, reported. The Ministry has rushed as many as 345 sick pilgrims to medical theaters from hospitals in Al-Madinah and Makkah to Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifah and finally to Mina to compete their rituals while receiving treatment, SPA quoted Marghalani as saying. The Ministry also launched the 95-vehicle field medicine service, sending the small ambulance equipped with an intensive unit manned with a doctor and a nurse to patients in their camps, a new service which received appreciation of both the patients and their colleagues. Meanwhile, the Information Spokesman of the Civil Defense forces in Hajj Colonel Abdullah Al-Orabi Al-Harthi said the civil defense squads have extinguished four fire accidents during the stand of pilgrims in Arafat in addition to eight evacuation cases including exhaustion and fatigue of pilgrims while practicing their ritual around the Mount of Arafat. He explained the plan of civil defense teams, stating that the distance between each squad and another should not exceed 90 meters. Al-Harthi confirmed that the teams monitoring carbon emissions in tunnels networks in Makkah and the sacred places will continue until the end of Hajj, noting that they are till now running in the prescribed range. He added that some 1200 civil defense men will be stationed in the vicinity of Jamrat to execute the medical evacuation plans. He said the force will contribute to the efforts of supporting the public security in preventing the risks of jams which have drastically reduced since the completion of the expansion works on Jamrat facility. Al-Harthi noted that his department has forged a detailed plan for evacuation and accommodation at all stations of Hajj, citing the floods and rains plan.