Hajj pilgrims get clean bill of health

Muslim worshippers watch as others circumambulate around the Kaaba, Islam's holiest shrine, at the Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia's holy city of Makkah on August 17, 2018 prior to the start of the annual Hajj pilgrimage in the holy city. (AFP)

Muslim worshippers circumambulate around the Kaaba, Islam's holiest shrine, at the Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia's holy city of Makkah on August 17, 2018 prior to the start of the annual Hajj pilgrimage in the holy city. (AFP)

Muslim pilgrims pray at the Mount Al-Noor, where Muslims believe Prophet Mohammad received the first words of the Holy Koran through Gabriel in the Hera cave, ahead of annual hajj pilgrimage in the holy city of Makkah, Saudi Arabia August 18, 2018. (REUTERS)

Muslim pilgrims pray while they the Mount Al-Noor, where Muslims believe Prophet Mohammad received the first words of the Holy Koran through Gabriel in the Hera cave, ahead of annual Hajj pilgrimage in the holy city of Makkah, Saudi Arabia on Saturday, August 18, 2018. (REUTERS)

Muslim pilgrims pray at the Grand Mosque, ahead of the annual Hajj pilgrimage in the Muslim holy city of Makkah, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday, Aug. 18, 2018. (AP)

• 50% of pilgrims are headed directly to Madinah and 50% are headed to Makkah and will visit Madinah after Hajj season

JEDDAH: Pilgrims at this year’s Hajj have been given a clean bill of health by Saudi authorities who confirmed on Saturday that no cases of epidemic or quarantine disease have been reported.
The Ministry of Health said that 1,647,351 pilgrims were provided with preventive services through health outlets from the first of the month of Dul Qadah until Saturday.
The general rate of commitment among the pilgrims to take preventive vaccines stood at about 80 percent for meningitis, 96.3 percent for yellow fever and 87.5 percent for polio, the ministry said.
Meanwhile, the ministry also provided emergency services in Makkah and Madinah hospitals to 280,773 pilgrims, bringing to 17,820 the number of visits to clinics, while medical centers treated 246,156 outpatients.
The number of cases hospitalized was 1,651, with nine births recorded.