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JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia: Braving the H1N1 flu pandemic, more than 2.5 million Muslim faithful are descending on the holy cities of Mecca and Medina this week for the hajj.
Under heightened monitoring by some 20,000 medical staff and more than 100,000 security personnel, the world's largest annual pilgrimage will kick off on Wednesday in western Saudi Arabia.
Four deaths from the A(H1N1) virus announced on Saturday - the first among pilgrims - served as a warning to the faithful who have mostly eschewed surgical masks and other preventive measures.
But the number was less than had been feared by the Saudi authorities.
Pilgrims from all over the world have poured into Saudi Arabia, by plane, bus and boat since October, for what for many is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Among the other concerns, Saudi officials are hoping also that repeated deadly stampedes - the last in 2006 left 364 dead - are a thing of the past.
Builders just completed a massive five-storey pedestrian walkway for the most crowded stage of the hajj - the stoning of the devil at the Jamarat in Mina valley - designed to avoid the panics of the past.
The 950 metre long, 80 metre wide bridge cost US$1.2 billion.
H1N1 flu has been a major concern since it reached pandemic level earlier this year.
By Saturday, only 20 pilgrims had been diagnosed with the disease. Twelve had been treated and discharged, four died and four remained in hospital.
Health ministry spokesman Dr. Khaled Marghlani said the four dead - three 75-year-olds and a teenage Nigerian girl - all had health problems ranging from chest infection to cancer that made them highly vulnerable.
"They all had pre-existing conditions," Marghlani told AFP.
After a May conference of international health experts, Saudis decided not to ban pilgrims from higher-risk groups - the elderly, children and the already ill.
With the Hajj a duty for all able Muslims, Riyadh instead urged governments around the world to restrict the pilgrimage to healthy adults between 18 and 65.
Doctors monitoring airport arrivals said there seemed to be fewer children and elderly this year, but not a sharp reduction.
As a precaution, Saudi Arabia has provided additional doctors and hospital beds, and stockpiled 1.5 million units of the anti-viral drug Tamiflu to treat flu victims.
"We have six health clinics in the Grand Mosque itself, working 24 hours," Dr Abdullah al-Rabeeah said.
But Rabeeah said he hopes as many as 20 per cent of pilgrims will have been vaccinated against H1N1 before arriving.
"We had the vaccination, but we are still worried a little bit," said Swaliha Khan just after arriving with her husband in Jeddah on Saturday from Ahmadabad, India.
- AFP/sc
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