The government of Saudi Arabia reassured visitors on Friday that it is prepared to screen for and otherwise address any public health threats during the upcoming Hajj season, responding to growing international concern about the spread of Ebola and hantavirus.
The hajj is the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, the holiest city in the religion, which Muslims are mandated to make, if possible, once in their lifetimes. Saudi Arabia typically welcomes upwards of one million Muslims to the city for the hajj on an annual basis, most coming from all over the world, including countries hostile to Saudi Arabia such as Iran. This year, the hajj is formally expected to begin on May 25, though the mass influx of foreign visitors has already begun. The Saudi government is expecting about 1.5 million people to participate in hajj activities.
The World Health Organization (W.H.O.) has identified two significant public health threats ongoing in the past month: an outbreak of the rat-transmitted disease hantavirus on board a cruise ship crossing the Atlantic, and a growing outbreak of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Operations are currently ongoing in Argentina to find the source of the hantavirus outbreak and contain it, while in DRC, health workers are facing major security challenges as mobs denying the existence of Ebola attack informal treatment centers and seek to retrieve the bodies of their loved ones.
The W.H.O. announced this week that it considers the potential of a global Ebola emergency to be low, but its officials have also conceded they are behind in studying the situation as it took about a month for authorities in the epicenter of the Congolese outbreak to identify the spread of the disease. World governments and observers alike have nonetheless expressed concern that the outbreak could spiral out of control and spread beyond Africa if not contained.
The state-run Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Friday that the country’s health authorities issued a statement affirming they are prepared to screen visitors and implement proper public health protocols in light of these concerns.
“Precautionary measures have been tightened for travelers arriving from neighboring nations, including Uganda, South Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania and the Republic of the Congo,” the Saudi Public Health Authority specified, according to the Emirati newspaper The National. Precautionary measures have especially been increased in airports and other travel centers, the statement read, and the country is “fully prepared to safeguard citizens, residents, and pilgrims.”
The German outlet Deutsche Welle noted that, in addition to possible health concerns, Saudi Arabia is currently facing significant security threats as a result of its geographic location and paused, but not resolved, hostilities between America and Iran.
“This year is the first time that Saudi Arabia has chosen to go ahead with the annual Hajj pilgrimage while it is also in the middle of a war that has seen direct strikes on Saudi territory,” the news agency observed, adding that, given the expected 30,000 Iranian nationals that will partake in the hajj, experts do not believe that Iran would actively target hajj sites or Saudi Arabia generally for continued airstrikes during the religious occasion.
Saudi Arabia, home to the holiest sites in Islam and a Sunni monarchy, and Iran, the world’s largest Shiite Muslim country, have long maintained an acrimonious relationship. Tensions eased in 2023 when the Chinese Communist Party, a close ally of Iran’s, intervened to normalize relations between Riyadh and Tehran, allowing the reopening of their embassies. Iran’s years of funding terrorist activity in the Middle East, however, and sometimes public opposition to the Saudi monarchs administering the holy sites damaged the relationship, which once again became hostile when Iran started bombing Saudi Arabia in March.
“What little trust there was before has completely been shattered,” Prince Faisal bin Farhan, the Saudi foreign minister, stated in March. “So when this war eventually ends, in order for there to be any rebuilding of trust, it will take a long time.”
“If Iran doesn’t stop… immediately, I think there will be almost nothing that can re-establish that trust,” he added, speaking at a summit of Gulf nations bombed by Iran following America’s launch of Operation Epic Fury.
That operation is currently in an indefinite status of ceasefire. President Donald Trump has announced attempts to negotiate a peace deal with Iran that would include commitments to ending Iran’s illicit nuclear development, which Iran has enthusiastically rejected. While the ceasefire is, at press time, holding, reports indicate that the hajj may be an unlikely factor ensuring that to be the case. According to the outlet Middle East Eye, various Muslim nations, including Saudi Arabia, requested that Trump not resume bombing Iran during the hajj period given the religious significance of the occasion. Such attacks, the governments of those countries reportedly argued, would result in hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals stranded in Saudi Arabia once the hajj concludes, assuming ongoing airstrikes compromise commercial flights.
Trump confirmed on Monday that he was considering resuming airstrikes on the Iranian terrorist regime but stated that he chose not to greenlight the attack after the intervention of multiple Muslim leaders.
“I have been asked by the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, and the President of the United Arab Emirates, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to hold off on our planned Military attack of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he wrote. “Based on my respect for the above mentioned Leaders, I have instructed Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth… that we will NOT be doing the scheduled attack of Iran tomorrow.”