The decision by Saudi Arabia prevents foreigners from reaching the holy city of Mecca.
now has the highest death toll from the virus — 22 dead from among 143 confirmed cases — outside of China, where the outbreak began.
More recently, Saudi Arabia faced the danger from another coronavirus, one that caused the Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS, which jumped from ill camels to humans. The kingdom increased its public health measures during the hajj in 2012 and 2013, though no outbreaks occurred amid the pilgrimage.
While millions attend the hajj, which is this year set for late July into early August, millions more come during the rest of the year to the holy sites in the kingdom. Those other pilgrimages are referred to as the umrah. One of the biggest times for the umrah is the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, which is set to begin at the end of April.
The hardest-hit nation in the Mideast is Iran, where the state-run IRNA news agency reported the new 22 deaths out of 143 cases of the illness, named COVID-19. 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.
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