Home News Saudi Arabia halts the annual hajj pilgrimage over Coronavirus outbreak

Saudi Arabia halts the annual hajj pilgrimage over Coronavirus outbreak

Over fears about a new viral epidemic just months ahead of the annual hajj pilgrimage, Saudi Arabia halted travel on Thursday to the holiest sites in Islam, a move coming as the Mideast has over 220 confirmed cases of the illness.

The decision showed the worry about the outbreak potentially spreading into Saudi Arabia.

The epicenter in the Mideast’s most-affected country, Iran, appears to be in the holy Shiite city of Qom.

“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,” the Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement announcing the decision. “We ask God Almighty to spare all humanity from all harm.”

Experts are concerned Iran may be under-reporting cases and deaths, given the illness’s rapid spread from Iran across the Persian Gulf. For example, Iran still has not confirmed any cases in Mashhad, even though a number of cases reported in Kuwait are linked to the Iranian city.

In Bahrain, which confirmed 33 cases as of Thursday morning, authorities halted all flights to Iraq and Lebanon. It separately extended a 48-hour ban over flights from Dubai and Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, through which infected travelers reached the island kingdom off the coast of Saudi Arabia.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said there were no immediate plans to quarantine cities but acknowledged it may take “one, two or three weeks” to get control of the virus in Iran.

As Iran’s 80 million people find themselves increasingly isolated in the region by the outbreak, the country’s sanctions-battered economy saw its currency slump to its lowest level against the U.S. dollar in a year on Wednesday.