Staff Reporter
Islamabad
Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Hajj and Umrah has allowed international pilgrims to perform Umrah from 1 November.
The Saudi Arabian government allowed the pilgrims from the countries including Pakistan where the intensity of coronavirus cases have subsided. Pakistan has been included in the coronavirus free countries list and the ministry would release the complete list of the countries from where the pilgrims would be allowed to visit the holy cities in the due course. The pilgrims can also go to perform Umrah in groups and they have to submit coronavirus test report 72 hours before departure for Saudi Arabia. The Umrah pilgrims will have to go into the quarantine for three days after reaching Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia has allowed pilgrims living inside the country to undertake the Umrah pilgrimage, from October 4, after a seven-month pause due to the coronavirus pandemic. In March, the country had declared a freeze on Umrah, which is an Islamic pilgrimage to the holy cities of Makkah and Madina undertaken any time of the year, attracting 19 million people last year.
Beginning on November 1, the kingdom will allow now visitors from specific countries deemed safe to perform Umrah at 100 percent of the revised capacity, until the end of the pandemic. The decision to resume Umrah came after the kingdom organised the smallest Hajj in modern history in late July, with only up to 10,000 Muslims allowed to take part in total – a far cry from the 2.5 million who participated last year.
