Swine flu to affect Hajj numbers

Are pilgrims at risk?

While the annual Hajj pilgrimage often sees over two million Muslims converge on Mecca, officials in Saudi Arabia have said they expect drastically lower numbers this year over fears of swine flu.

A Saudi Health ministry official said that while they did not expect international visitor numbers to drop, local pilgrim numbers could fall by as much as 40 percent. Over the past few months, there has been increasing concern about how pilgrimages could spread swine flu throughout the region. The Iranian government was so concerned that earlier in the year, they impose a ban on pilgrimages during Ramadan to stop the pandemic spreading amongst its citizens.

At the time, Iran had over 145 registered cases of swine flu, many of them coming from citizens visiting the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Already, four pilgrims attending the Hajj have died from the notorious H1N1 virus, but Saudi health officials have played down the risk to others.

At a news conference yesterday, health ministry spokesman Dr Khaled Marghlani said, "There is no risk of the illness spreading as we are well-prepared and have taken the necessary measures."

The Hajj

The Pilgrimage begins today, with Muslims starting the Hajj rites by walking anti-clockwise around the Kaaba (the cube-esque structure in the centre of the Great Mosque, Islam's holiest shrine) seven times.

Commemorating a search for water by Hajar, wife of the Prophet Abraham, pilgrims also run seven times along a passageway in the Great Mosque before travelling to the valley of Arafat where they stand in the open, praising Allah and meditating.

Health threat?

The four pilgrims that have died from the N1H1 virus - a Sudanese man, a Moroccan woman and an Indian man - all aged over 75, and a girl aged 17 from Nigeria - were cited as "not following recommended procedures, especially vaccination against swine flu".

To prevent the rise in cases, the Saudi government has implemented a scheme for all pilgrims to provide a health certificate that states that they have received a flu shot and they are free of the chronic disease. It has also banned all pilgrims over 65 years old and children under the age of 12.

On top of the four fatalities, 16 other swine flu cases have bee detected with four pilgrims said to be in a critical condition.

There has been much discussion in the Middle East about how to prevent the spread of swine flu during the Hajj and Omra pilgrimages to Islam's holiest sites located in Saudi Arabia. The hajj pilgrimage is required of all able-bodied Muslims at least once in their lives, while Omra is a voluntary, lesser pilgrimage that can be completed at any other time of the year.

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