Middle East braces for bleak Ramadan as virus threat lingers

Ramadan is considered an auspicious period to travel to Mecca to perform the year-round umrah pilgrimage, which Saudi authorities suspended last month due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving the usually packed area around the sacred Kaaba empty. [Image: AFP]

From cancelled iftar feasts to suspended mosque prayers, Muslims across the Middle East are bracing for a bleak month of Ramadan fasting as the threat of the Covid-19 pandemic lingers.