Hajj is the annual pilgrimage for Muslims to the holy city of Mecca, and this year’s event has gone digital.
Saudi Arabia has developed an app to help identify millions of pilgrims, especially those visiting from abroad. It comes after some foreign officials expressed concerns about difficulties in identifying those killed in last year’s stampede.
Millions of pilgrims are in Saudi Arabia for the annual religious journey, and most of them, if not all, have mobile phones. This year, however, mobile phones and specific apps turned out to be lifesavers for those attending the Hajj. Each visitor entering the Kingdom has been assigned a unique bar code to help with identification. Which for the first time here, has made mobile phones an integral part of security checks.
CCTV’s Adel EL Mahrouky explains.
