THE NEED FOR THE SOCIAL DISTANCING ON THE CROWD MANAGEMENT OF MAJOR EVENTS DURING CORONAVIRUS: A CASE OF THE ISLAMIC PILGRIM (HAJJ)

Crowds are a feature of large cities, occurring not only at mass gatherings but also at routine events such as the journey to work, schools, churches, mosques, campaign events, carnivals and lots more. Bringing people together has many positive social and economic benefits. Some environments for mass gatherings are so crowded that the risk of a disaster is ever present. The Olympic Games, the Hajj, the Christian pilgrimage and other major sporting, religious and cultural events are some example of such a crowded environment. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Events involving large crowds have been cancelled or postponed worldwide; access to public buildings has been restricted as different mitigation measures have been adopted around the world to decrease physical interactions among people during the COVID-19 pandemic. Strategies for containing an emerging infectious disease outbreak must be non-pharmaceutical when drugs or vaccines for the pathogen do not yet exist or are unavailable. The success of these non-pharmaceutical strategies will depend on not only the effectiveness of isolation measures but also the epidemiological characteristics of the infection. Infectious diseases are commonly controlled by minimizing contact between infectious and susceptible individuals. Personal measures to reduce potentially infectious contacts are sometimes referred to as ‘social distancing'. It has been suggested that policies encouraging social distancing may be effective against pandemic influenza (Bell et al. 2006; Glass et al. 2006). An examination of levels of social distancing actually achieved during previous epidemics can provide useful guidance as to the effectiveness of social distancing interventions during future influenza pandemics.