No contagious diseases or quarantine cases have been reported among pilgrims, said acting Health Minister Adel Fakeih on Wednesday.

“The ministry has taken precautionary measures to protect the guests of God,” he said, while expressing his optimism that this Hajj season would be free from infectious diseases.

Fakeih said the Ministry’s hospitals and other medical facilities in Makkah and other holy sites were ready to extend advanced health and first-aid services to pilgrims.

More than 600,000 pilgrims have already arrived from foreign countries to take part in the annual event, which is expected to officially begin on October 2.

Saudi Arabia has banned pilgrims from Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, the three main Ebola-hit African countries, to prevent an outbreak of the disease in the Kingdom during the Hajj season.

Saudi health authorities will keep a close watch on arriving foreign pilgrims to make sure they are not carriers of contagious diseases.

The Kingdom has set up several modern hospitals in Makkah, Mina and Arafat to cope with potential cases.

Fakeih said the Health Ministry has mobilized all its human and material resources to provide the best possible services to the guests of God.

He commended the on-going coordination between the various government departments to serve the pilgrims as efficiently as possible.

We gathered that the Supreme Hajj Committee, which met in Riyadh recently, discussed arrangements for the largest gathering of Muslims, particularly the measures taken to combat the Ebola virus.