Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Saudi Arabia, due to the pandemic of the new coronavirus, canceled this year’s hajj to the holy places of Islam in Mecca and Medina for pilgrims from abroad. This was announced on Monday by Sky News Arabia.

“Hajj will take place with the participation of a very limited number of pilgrims of various nationalities living in the country,” Sky News Arabia quoted the authorities of the kingdom.

In 2020, the Hajj according to the lunar calendar falls at the end of July. More than 3 million people take part in its rites and rituals annually, including over 2 million Muslims come from abroad.

Saudi Arabia ranks first among Arab countries in the number of coronavirus infected. To date, 161 thousand infected have been identified, more than 105 thousand people have already recovered, 1 307 cases have died. As part of the response to the spread of the pandemic in the kingdom, all mosques have been closed since the end of March. Since June, they began to gradually open.

With the blessing of the keeper of two shrines in Mecca and Medina, King Salman bin Abdel Aziz Al Saud, prayers were resumed in the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina. But the main shrine of Muslims - the Big (Preserved) mosque in Mecca - is still closed.