Masks and social distancing at downsized Hajj
tens of thousands of pilgrims havearrived in the saudi arabian city ofmecca for adownsized hajj which formerly starts onsundayas sophia tran thompson reportsrestrictions are tight as the kingdom ishoping to repeat last year's successthat sawno coronavirus outbreaks during thefive-day muslim ritual[Music]the annual hajj pilgrimage one of thefive pillars of islamall muslims are expected to retrace theprophet muhammad's final pilgrimageat least once in their lives if theyhave the means to do sothe event is usually one of the world'slargest annual gatheringsand would generally see two and a halfmillion muslims from around the worldconverge on meccathis year just 60 000 healthy andvaccinated saudi residentschosen through a lottery from almost 600000applicants will take part strict socialdistancing measures are in placeand a hajj brilliant pass is being used toallow contact free access andtransportationto the various religious sites andaccommodationtechnology will also play a part withthe deployment of robots to dispensebottles of sacred water from the grandmosqueand others to dispense disinfectantwhile a large proportion of securitywill take place remotelyand most of the marshals who wouldnormally be on site will be in a callcenter insteadwe help them if they're lost or needurgent medical help or can't find a touroperatorwhenit's taken complicated and costlyplanningbut hosting the hajj is a matter ofprestige for saudi rulersborrowing overseas pilgrims will costthe kingdom around 12 billion dollarsthis yearand impact hundreds of thousands of jobsin the holy citybut the hajj is a gathering which couldeasily become a coronavirus superspreader eventand with about 14 out of 34 millionsaudis still unvaccinatedit's a risk the kingdom isn't willing totakesophia tran thompson
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