Coronavirus: Islam’s Holy Kaaba, black stone cleaned, perfumed five times a day

Islam’s holiest site is being cleaned and perfumed, despite being virtually empty due to measures taken to prevent the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the General Presidency for the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques in Saudi Arabia.

Incense and bukhoor are being used on the Holy Kaaba and its black stone, according to the presidency, which tweeted pictures of the process.

Prayer halls in the Grand Mosque are also being perfumed with bukhoor around the clock, while the black stone is rubbed with oud five times each day.

Oud, known in English as agarwood, originates from the barks of trees that only grow in parts of South East Asia.

For thousands of years, it has been used in the Middle East and Asia in the form of wooden incense chips, body oils, and fragrances, and has become synonymous with hospitality in the Arabian Peninsula.

As of Monday, coronavirus has killed 255 people in Saudi Arabia and infected more than 40,000.

The presidency also set up self-sterilization gates at the entrance of Mecca’s Grand Mosque as part of measures to curb the outbreak.

The President of the Two Holy Mosque affairs, Sheikh Abdul Rahman al-Sudais, also used “Ozone tech” last week to sterilize the Kaaba.