Management of Cairo International Airport (CIA) has decided to cancel flights bound to the Holy Land in the Saudi Arabia Kingdom over reasons linked to the Coronavirus.
The Saudi authorities enforced Muslim pilgrims there to wear masks at the Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia's holy city of Mecca on Feb. 27, 2020.
On the other hand, Saudi Arabia suspended visas for visits to Islam's holiest sites for the "umrah" pilgrimage.
That measurement is an unprecedented move triggered by fears of the infection with the Coronavirus fears that raises questions over the annual hajj.
The kingdom announced on Thursday that it was suspending entry for the Umrah pilgrimage and tourism from countries where the new Coronavirus has spread.
The ban is a part of measures to prevent Coronavirus from entering the Kingdom, according to a statement released on the Foreign Ministry's official Twitter account.
Officials also said that the suspensions were temporary but provided no timeframe for their expiry. It was unclear if the hajj pilgrimage, which is scheduled to begin in late July, would be impacted.
The country’s decision comes just months before the annual hajj pilgrimage and after 220 confirmed cases of the Covid-19 illness have been recorded in the Middle East.
The move stops tourists and pilgrims from reaching the holy city of Mecca and the Kaaba, the cube-shaped structure the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims pray toward five times a day.
Fears over the outbreak potentially spreading into Saudi Arabia appear to have prompted the decision, with the country’s oil-rich monarchy staking its legitimacy on protecting Islam’s holy sites.
The center of the outbreak in Iran, the most-affected country in the Middle East, appears to be in the holy Shiite city of Qom, where a shrine there sees the faithful reach out to kiss and touch it in reverence.
The Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement: “Saudi Arabia renews its support for all international measures to limit the spread of this virus, and urges its citizens to exercise caution before traveling to countries experiencing Coronavirus outbreaks.
“We ask God Almighty to spare all humanity from all harm.”
Disease outbreaks always have been a concern surrounding the hajj, required of all able-bodied Muslims once in their life, especially as pilgrims come from all over the world.
The earliest recorded outbreak came in 632 as pilgrims fought off malaria, while a cholera outbreak in 1821 killed an estimated 20,000 pilgrims and another cholera outbreak in 1865 killed 15,000 pilgrims and then spread worldwide.
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