Preparations under way for arrival of hajj pilgrims

Workers disinfected the floors and pillars of Mecca's Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia as the first of 1,000 pilgrims began arriving for an unusually limited hajj this year.

Saudi Arabia has said because of the coronavirus only "very limited numbers" of people will be allowed to perform the annual pilgrimage which traditionally draws around two million Muslims from around the world.

Earlier this month, the kingdom issued guidelines for those who will be allowed to perform the pilgrimage.

Pilgrims will have to bring their own prayer mats and can only drink from packaged water battles filled from Mecca's Zamzam well.

For the first time the hajj will not include pilgrims from outside the country.

Instead, the kingdom said that 70% of pilgrims allowed to make the pilgrimage this year will be from among foreign residents of Saudi Arabia and 30% would be Saudi citizens.

Saudi pilgrims will be selected from among health care workers and security personnel who have recovered from COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus.

The foreign residents making this year's pilgrimage should be between the ages of 20 and 50, and that they have not performed the hajj before.

The pilgrims will have to quarantine before and after the hajj, and they will be tested for the coronavirus.

Saudi Arabia has one of the Middle East's largest outbreaks of the virus, with infection rates rising by 3,000-4,000 cases daily.

More than 264,000 people have contracted the virus in the kingdom so far, including 2,703 who have died.

Hajj will begin on July 28 and end on August 2.

(Representative Image)