The government of Saudi Arabia says it will start receiving
umrah pilgrimage requests from abroad for vaccinated pilgrims starting August
9.
Umrah is a pilgrimage performed by Muslims at any time of
the year.
The country had in February 2020, suspended the issuance of
visa to foreigners over fears of the coronavirus. Only immunised pilgrims
residing in Saudi Arabia were eligible for umrah permits.
However, the kingdom is slowly opening up and has started
welcoming vaccinated foreign tourists since August 1.
Quoting Abdulfattah bin Sulaiman Mashat, deputy hajj
minister, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said foreign pilgrims must be immunised
with a Saudi-recognised vaccine — Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Moderna and
Johnson & Johnson — and agree to undergo quarantine if necessary.
The kingdom is also working on determining the destinations
from which pilgrims can come and their numbers on a “periodic basis according
to the classification of preventive measures” in those countries.
According to the SPA report, Saudi Arabia will allow 60,000
pilgrims to perform umrah each month, and gradually increase that to reach two
million worshippers per month.
In June, the Saudi government had announced that hajj is
still restricted to those residing in the country.
“In the light of what the world is witnessing with the
continuing developments of the pandemic Covid-19, and the emergence of new
variations, Hajj 1442 will be limited to the residents and citizens from within
the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ONLY ” the statement had said.
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com