COVID-19: Saudi Arabia steps up sanitation at Grand Mosque for Umrah

Cairo: Saudi authorities have disclosed a plan for an intensified clean-up operation of the Grand Mosque in Mecca as Umrah will resume next week after a months-long halt.

As part of the plan, the Grand Mosque will be washed 10 times every day before and after the Umrah pilgrim groups perform the ritual, Mohammed bin Mosleh, the deputy president- general for technical and service affairs of the Grand Mosque said.

The mosque rugs will be sterilised round the clock, and hand sanitisers will be installed at the entrances of the holy site, he added, according to the Saudi news portal Sabq.

Thermal cameras will, meanwhile, check temperatures of people entering the mosque where etikaf (seclusion for worshipping) as well as food and drinks will be forbidden.

Rows of worshippers inside the mosque will, moreover, be arranged in line with distancing rules to minimise chances for infection spread.

Starting from Sunday, Saudi Arabia will resume Umrah and visits to the two holy mosques in Mecca and Medina according to a gradual plan amid observance of stringent measures against the coronavirus.

Saudis and foreign residents in the kingdom will be allowed in the first phase to perform Umrah at a capacity of 30 per cent amid health precautions.

Muslims abroad will be allowed to go to Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah as of November 1.