Saudi Arabia reopened the two grand mosques — the most sacred religious sites in Islam — in the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah, after they were closed for sterilization to halt the spread of the new coronavirus, state TV Al-Ekhbariya reported on Friday.
The sites were closed to foreign pilgrims and traditional tourists from some 25 countries to stop the spread of the virus. It also said that citizens and residents of Gulf Cooperation Council countries wishing to enter must wait 14 days after returning from outside the region.
Saudi Arabia has reported five cases of the coronavirus.
It was not clear from the Al-Ekhbariya report if pilgrims would be allowed to return to the sites.
The kingdom halted the pilgrimage for its own citizens and residents on Wednesday, on top of restrictions announced last week on foreign pilgrims to stop the disease from spreading.
State television relayed images of an empty white-tiled area surrounding the Kaaba, which is usually packed with tens of thousands of pilgrims —
an unprecedented shutdown state media said will last while the year-round umrah pilgrimage is suspended.
As a “precautionary measure,” the area will remain closed as long as the umrah suspension lasts but prayers will be allowed inside the mosque, state-run Saudi Press Agency cited a mosque official as saying.
Additionally, the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque in the city of Medina will be closed an hour after the evening “Isha” prayer and will reopen an hour before the dawn “Fajr” prayer to allow cleaning and sterilization, the official added.
A group of cleaners were seen scrubbing and mopping the tiles around the Kaaba, a structure draped in gold-embroidered gold cloth toward which Muslims around the world pray.
A Saudi official told AFP the decision to close the area was “unprecedented.”
The umrah, which refers to the Islamic pilgrimage to Makkah that can be undertaken at any time of year, attracts millions of Muslims from across the globe annually.
The decision to suspend the umrah mirrors a precautionary approach across the Gulf to cancel mass gatherings from concerts to sporting events.
It comes ahead of the holy fasting month of Ramadan starting in late April, which is a favored period for pilgrimage.
It is unclear how the coronavirus will affect the Hajj, due to start in late July.
Some 2.5 million faithful traveled to Saudi Arabia from across the world in 2019 to take part in the Hajj, which is one of the five pillars of Islam as Muslim obligations are known.
The event is a massive logistical challenge for Saudi authorities, with colossal crowds cramming into relatively small holy sites, making attendees vulnerable to contagion.
Already reeling from slumping oil prices, the kingdom risks losing billions of dollars annually from religious tourism as it tightens access to the sites.
