Tens of thousands of Muslim faithful concluded Sunday evening the great pilgrimage to Mecca marked this year by very strict health security measures due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Only tens of thousands of faithful, residing in Saudi Arabia, made this great pilgrimage called the hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam, against some 2.5 million participants from around the world in 2019.
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The pilgrims devoted Sunday the fifth and last day of the hajj to the stoning of the stelae representing Satan in Mina. For this ritual, the authorities provided the pilgrims with sterilized stones for the first time. In the past, they used pebbles that they collected themselves.
The pilgrims then went to Mecca, the holiest city of Islam, to carry out the " farewell tawaf ", convolutions around the Kaaba, a cubic structure in the heart of the Great Mosque and towards which Muslims from all over the world are heading for their prayers.
Saudi Arabia has deployed a major security and health system around religious sites. And the rites, during which the faithful had to wear masks and respect physical distancing, have sometimes been modified.
The highlight of the hajj, the ascent of Mount Arafat, which took place Thursday 20 km east of Mecca, has been cut short due to the virus. During this ritual, the faithful ask for the mercy of God. King Salman on Friday addressed Eid his wishes to Muslims, stressing that the Saudi authorities had " redoubled their efforts " to protect the faithful.
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The kingdom has officially recorded nearly 279,000 cases of infections, including more than 2,900 deaths, one of the highest rates in the Arab world, and around 240,000 recoveries.
