Middle East Eye: Most of Mecca's residents may be infected with Coronavirus

A report published by the British Middle East Eye website revealed that most of the people of Mecca in Saudi Arabia may be infected with Corona virus (Covid-19).

The report says that high-level Saudi medical sources told the site that 70% of the population of Mecca may be suffering from the epidemic.

Medical sources reported that recent tests indicated that the actual prevalence of coronavirus in Saudi Arabia may be much higher than official estimates.

Three senior Saudi medical sources reported that it is estimated that approximately 70% of the population of Mecca - who number more than two million people - are carrying the virus, according to the latest randomized tests conducted in the city.

The highest infections Saudi Arabia has so far recorded 21,402 infections and 157 deaths from the Corona virus, which is the highest figure in the six Gulf Cooperation Council states.

The British website attributes to a source - on condition of anonymity - that the actual spread of the epidemic in Saudi Arabia could be three to four times higher than the announced numbers.

The site notes that the Saudi health authorities expect that the peak of the pandemic will spread to the country at some point in next June.

According to one source, Corona patients were initially admitted to public hospitals, but "the instructions now are to treat them in private hospitals, because public hospitals have become stressful."

Curfew
The Saudi authorities imposed a 24-hour curfew on Makkah and Madinah on the second of last month, as part of the measures to contain the disease, then the civil ban was eased on the 26th of the same month, after the start of the holy month of Ramadan, but restrictions on Makkah remained valid.

The closure has also been imposed at the state level in Saudi Arabia since last March 25, including a ban on entry and exit from Mecca, Medina and Riyadh, in addition to restricting movement between its 13 governorates.

With Mecca under strict closure, it is widely believed that Mecca is the epicenter of the disease in the country.

The annual Hajj season - which witnesses the travel of millions of Muslims to Mecca - is scheduled to start next July, and it is widely expected that it will be canceled or the number of pilgrims reduced.

Full closure
According to one of the medical sources, other governorates may return to full closure if the number of cases there increases by 20%.

The source said that a new hospital with a capacity of five hundred beds was established in the city of Jeddah on the Red Sea, in addition to two other facilities to deal with the increasing number of cases.