Saudi Arabia on Thursday emptied Islam’s holiest site for sterilisation over fears of the new coronavirus, an unprecedented shutdown state media said will last while the year-round umrah pilgrimage is suspended. State television relayed images of an empty white-tiled area surrounding the Kaaba -– a large black cube structure inside Mecca’s Grand Mosque — which is usually packed with tens of thousands of pilgrims. As a “precautionary measure”, the area will remain closed as long as the umrah suspension lasts but prayers will be allowed inside the mosque, state-run Saudi Press Agency cited a mosque official as saying.
