Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Hajj and Umrah said the annual pilgrimage would be restricted to a very limited numbers of pilgrims of all nationalities who are already residing in the country, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
A statement from the ministry said that as Covid-19 cases continue to grow globally, and because of the risks of coronavirus spreading in crowded spaces and from other countries, the Hajj will “take place this year with a limited number of pilgrims from all nationalities residing in Saudi Arabia only, who are willing to perform Hajj.”
The ministry statement cited the Saudi Ministry of Health as saying that the risks from coronavirus “are expected to grow further, but there is no vaccine available yet for those infected by the disease.
Based on these concerns, the Hajj Ministry statement said, “the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, whose top priority is to always provide care to enable Muslims to perform Hajj or Umrah rites safely and securely, has taken severe precautionary measures to protect pilgrims since the beginning of COVID-19.”
More than two million Muslims performed Hajj last year, and of those, more than 1.8 million pilgrims traveled to Saudi Arabia from abroad to take part.
