Despite the return of Covid-19, Muslim pilgrims suffered more this year from the heat wave in Mecca.
The end of the Covid-19 pandemic has not yet been declared by the World Health Organization (WHO). Even if it seems less virulent than when it began in 2019, the disease continues to affect new people, especially those who have spent several days in other countries. This is the case of the first pilgrims from Senegal who are beginning to return home. They accuse a coronavirus positivity rate “between 20% and 60%” after the pilgrimage to Mecca, in Saudi Arabia.
“We are currently receiving results from the laboratory which carries out the Covid-19 tests and we have, among pilgrims, a rate of between 20% and 60% of positivity for coronavirus, depending on the return flights from the Holy Places of Islam,” declared Charles Bernard Sagna, chief doctor of the health control service at the air borders of Blaise Diagne International Airport (AIBD), in an interview granted Sunday to the Senegalese Press Agency (APS).
Since the end of the weekend, seven flights from Saudi Arabia have brought pilgrims back to the AIBD. This situation calls for health vigilance, with the return of barrier measures including the wearing of masks.
“I invite pilgrims who are going to leave Jeddah in Saudi Arabia to wear the mask before entering their respective aircraft and to continue to wear it, once in Senegal, within the community and at home, to avoid spread of the disease,” recommended the doctor without giving more details on the exact number of pilgrims positive for coronavirus.
However, the Ministry of Health clarified in a press release on Monday that 78 people tested positive for Covid-19 after their return from pilgrimage. “Of the 124 rapid diagnostic tests (RDT) carried out on pilgrims upon their arrival at the airport, 78 cases were detected positive for SARS-CoV-2 including 36 cases confirmed by PCR,” he indicated, emphasizing having “strengthened its health surveillance system at the borders” following the numerous “cases of unsolved deaths” recorded this year in Mecca.
It is therefore a “return from Mecca under masks”, observes Le Quotidien this Monday while the Minister of Transport, Malick Ndiaye, welcomed the first pilgrims returning to Senegal on Saturday in the same way, avoiding shaking hands with newcomers as if to indicate that he was informed of the risk of contamination against Covid-19 of certain people.
However, the pilgrims were more affected this year by “the heat wave” which has already killed “1,301” people including five Senegalese in Saudi Arabia. They died in scorching heat in this country, where the temperature reached, for example, 51.8°C in Mecca in recent days, while most people did not have permits for this gathering, ‘after the Saudi authorities.
ODL/te/APA
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