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PHOTO : JAKARTAPOST

Muslim pilgrims circled Islam's holiest site along socially distanced paths Sunday in the final ritual of the haj, the smallest in modern history as Saudi authorities sought to prevent a coronavirus outbreak. Only up to 10,000 Muslims took part in the haj, a far cry from the 2.5 million who took part in the five-day annual pilgrimage last year. Instead of gathering the pebbles themselves as in past years, they were handed them bagged and sterilized by haj authorities, to protect against the novel coronavirus. Pilgrims returned to the Grand Mosque in Mecca later Sunday to perform a final "tawaf", or circling of the Kaaba -a cubic structure towards which Muslims around the world pray//JP