Some 10,000 foreign pilgrims arrive in Saudi Arabia in Umrah after a seven-month break due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Pilgrims will have to isolate themselves for 3 days after their arrival before being transported to devout places, according to Amr Al-Maddah, Deputy Minister of Hajj and Umrah.
You will be entitled to 10 days in the kingdom.
Al-Maddah said coVID-19 tests on pilgrims, all of whom are 50 years of age or older, will be uninterrupted and that all detected cases will be rigorously monitored.
Millions of Muslims around the world regularly travel to Saudi Arabia for umrah and Hajj pilgrimages. Two percent of non-unusual rites, however, Hajj, which is performed once a year, is a longer ritual than a bachelor duty for Muslims.
Saudi Arabia, which organized a largely symbolic Hajj this year, limited to domestic worshippers, began allowing citizens to practice Umrah last month at 30% of its capacity, or 6,000 pilgrims a day.
Last year, the Gulf State attracted 19 million to the Umra.
Before the pandemic, more than 1,300 hotels and plenty of department stores buzzed 24 hours a day to welcome pilgrims visiting the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, which in recent months have been largely empty.
The faithful are no longer allowed to touch the Kaaba, a stone design wrapped in a black cloth embroidered in gold with verses from the Koran. The Kaaba is the ultimate sacred design of Islam and the direction that Muslims must face to pray; The touch is considered a wonderful honor that pilgrims loved in the past.
Hajj is the backbone of a plan to expand tourism as a component of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s preference to diversify the economy of the world’s largest oil exporter and aimed to increase omra visitors to 15 million by 2020, a plan interrupted by coronavirus. pandemic and up to 30 million by 2030.
The devoted pilgrimage generates $12 billion in a source of income for housing, transportation, gifts, food and expenses for the faithful, according to official data.
Saudi Arabia hosted a severely reduced Hajj at the end of July for the first time in fashion history, with a few thousand domestic pilgrims from the same old sea dressed in white from some 3 million Muslims.
© 2020 Al Jazeera Media Network