Saudi Arabia to Allow Two Million Umrah Pilgrims Per Month

Jeddah, MINA – Saudi Arabia announced on Sunday that starting Monday, registrations for pilgrims wishing to perform Umrah from abroad will be opened and two million applications will be accepted each month.

Saudi news agency SPA quoted Deputy Minister of Hajj and Umrah Dr. Abdulfattah bin Sulaiman Mashat said his ministry had coordinated with other relevant authorities prior to the start of the 2021/2022 Umrah season, to develop an executive mechanism and create a safe and accessible environment for Umrah pilgrims throughout their journey to achieve security, safety and health.

Previously the government only allowed 60,000 Umrah pilgrims divided into eight periods, but now it has increased to 2 million per month.

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Registration will be done through an integrated system of services and precautions.

Mashat said the ministry is working to determine the country of origin of the Umrah pilgrims and their number periodically according to the classification of precautions and requirements for the country of origin of pilgrims and visitors coming to Saudi.

During the pandemic, the implementation of Umrah is limited. Only Saudi citizens and foreign residents living in the country are allowed to worship at the Grand Mosque with a capacity of 30 percent or 6,000 people per day.

Previously, at the end of July, the government of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia said that nine countries could not make direct flights, namely India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa and Lebanon.

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Umrah pilgrims from nine countries must transit in a third country outside the nine countries to quarantine for 14 days, before flying to Saudi Arabia.

In addition to the age requirement of 18 years and over, Saudi Arabia requires Umrah pilgrims to be fully vaccinated with one of these four vaccines: AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson.

However, for Umrah pilgrims who are vaccinated with vaccines made in China such as Sinovac or Sinopharm, Saudi Arabia is still allowed to leave on condition that the pilgrims are vaccinated with one of the above vaccines.

With these conditions, Firman M. Nur, general chairman of the Muslim Association for Hajj and Umrah Organizers of the Republic of Indonesia (Amphuri) said that Indonesian Umrah pilgrims can go for Umrah but at a higher cost and a longer time. (T/RE1)

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Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)