Riyadh
Online application app will allow pilgrims to apply and reserve a specific time and date in which they can perform Umrah
Saudi Arabia on Monday released new details on how it plans to gradually allow Muslims back to the holiest site in the holy city of Makkah to perform the smaller, year-round pilgrimage, which has been suspended for the past seven months due to the coronavirus.Haj Minister Muhammad Benten said the kingdom will launch an online application that allows citizens, residents of Saudi Arabia and visitors to apply and reserve a specific time and date in which they can perform the pilgrimage, known as “Umrah,” to avoid crowding and maintain social-distancing guidelines.
The minister, who spoke during a virtual seminar, did not say when the pilgrimage would be permitted to resume nor how many people would be allowed to perform it at the same time. The kingdom held a dramatically downsized, symbolic Haj pilgrimage in July due to concerns that it could easily have become a global super-spreader event for the virus. Pilgrims were selected after applying through an online portal and all were residents or citizens of Saudi Arabia.—AP
