Saudi Arabia will allow pilgrims residing inside the country to undertake the umrah pilgrimage beginning on Oct 4, after a seven-month pause due to coronavirus concerns, state news agency SPA reported.
Published : 23 Sep 2020, 10:40 AM
Umrah is an Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina undertaken any time of the year, attracting 19 million people last year. Saudi Arabia had instituted a freeze on umrah in March.
It will now allow 6,000 citizens and residents inside the kingdom to perform umrah daily, representing 30% of a revised capacity of 20,000 that takes into account precautionary health measures, SPA added. That will expand to 75% of capacity on Oct 18.
Beginning Nov 1, Saudi Arabia will allow visitors from specific countries deemed safe to perform umrah at 100% of the revised capacity, until the end of the pandemic, SPA said.
This year, Saudi Arabia conducted a limited haj, the larger pilgrimage that usually attracts around 3 million people, for a few thousand citizens and residents.
Official data show haj and umrah earn the kingdom about $12 billion a year.
On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia reported 330,798 total cases of coronavirus and 4,542 deaths, as cases in the Gulf region topped 800,000.