A woman is seen walking past vendors sitting in allocated lots to observe social distancing amid fears over the spread of the Covid-19 (coronavirus) outbreak as they wait for customers along a street in Surabaya on Tuesday (June 2). - AFP
JAKARTA (Reuters): Indonesia has cancelled the haj pilgrimage this year for people in the world's largest Muslim-majority nation due to concerns over the Covid-19 (coronavirus), the religious affairs minister said on Tuesday (June 2).
Each year hundreds of thousands of Indonesians go on the haj to Saudi Arabia, where Islam's two holiest sites -- Mecca and Medina -- are located. For many Indonesians, the religious pilgrimage is a once-in-a lifetime event, with the average wait time 20 years due to a quota system, according to the country's cabinet secretariat.
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