The cancellation of mass gatherings (MGs)? Decision making in the time of COVID-19

Abstract

Our recommendation, as experts who have monitored health hazards at the Hajj for over 15 years, especially if the situation with COVID-19 continues to escalate globally is that Hajj 2020 will be at risk of being suspended and a means for Muslims to fulfill their rights in the future either personally or even by proxy need to be announced. The same holds true for the Summer 2020 Olympics in Japan and for many other MGs and large gatherings. Decisions in the time of COVID-19 will be closely followed and will be a blueprint for other mass gatherings.

COVID-19 social distancing in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: Bold measures in the face of political, economic, social and religious challenges

“…The pilgrimage is compulsory for all Muslims who are physically and financially able to perform it. Many Muslims around the world save and wait decades for the opportunity to perform Hajj, and a decision to suspend the Hajj would have a significant impact within and outside the Kingdom [11]. The decision on the 2020 Hajj will be an informed weighing between the risk of the pilgrimage going ahead and the consequence of it being suspended.…”

“…Saudi Arabia has robust preparedness and public health response capabilities strengthened by the valuable experience gained during its managing of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) reported in 2012 and decades of planning religious mass gatherings in the face or numerous public health challenges. A testament to this is the Kingdom's recent successful planning and management of the Hajj in the midst of infectious diseases outbreaks and public health emergencies of international concern, including the H1N1 pandemic influenza and the SARS, MERS, rift valley fever, ZIKA and Ebola virus disease outbreaks [11]. KSA is currently drawing on these successful experiences to address the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

Repercussions of mass gathering: COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Such mass gatherings have been proven responsible for the outbreak of COVID-19 in the epicentre of Wuhan, China (Ahmed and Memish, 2020). Latin America celebrated a carnival, which had a high number of people participating both nationally and internationally in February 2020, making it a COVID-19 transmitting gathering (Shah and Naqvi, 2020).…”

“…Sports events such as the Olympics or World cup becomes a unique risk of infectious disease to both attendant and the nation hosting it. Cancellation or postponement may lead to economic loss to the host nation, but it is the surest way to protect its people from getting infected (Ahmed and Memish, 2020). This example tells us how mass gatherings play a role in transmitting disease through secondary attacks (Ebrahim and Memish, 2020).…”

A Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the knowledge, attitude and practice questionnaire towards prevention of Respiratory tract infections during Hajj and Umrah

“…Similarly, Saudi Arabia, being the sole host of the Hajj and Umrah pilgrimage, has recorded 161,005 con rmed cases of COVID-19 resulting in more than 1300 deaths [8]. This has prompted Saudi Arabia authorities to initiate more proactive protective precautions such as temporary suspension of Umrah pilgrimage and limiting Hajj 2020 pilgrimage to only a few Saudi residents with strict guidelines on the rules of social distancing, the use of face mask and proper hand hygiene [9][10][11].…”