A limited number of others surrounded Islam’s holiest in Mecca on Sunday after Saudi Arabia lifted decades-long coronavirus restrictions.
The kingdom took the rare step of postponing Umrah, the smallest pilgrimage that attracts millions of others year-round from a circle around the world, in early March, when coronavirus became a global pandemic and led countries to impose closures and curfews to slow down. Transmission.
But as nations begin to ease these restrictions, the Saudi government began Sunday to allow up to 6,000 pilgrims a day to enter the Grand Mosque in Mecca.
Only Saudi citizens will be able to enter the mosque in this first phase of reopening, and each pilgrim has up to 3 hours to complete the pilgrimage.
The Grand Mosque, which is sterilized and cleaned several times a day, houses the Kaaba, to which practicing Muslims pray five times a day.
Worshippers wishing to enter the mosque for Friday prayer or to complete the Umra will need to request an e-book with an hour and a date through an online application submitted by the government to avoid overcrowding.
The Saudi minister of Hajj said that the organization of 20 or 25 pilgrims will be accompanied by a fitness employee and that medical organizations will be present in case of emergency.
State television showed on Sunday what gave the impression of being less than 50 more people surrounding the Kaaba at the same time and walking several meters away. As a general rule, the mosque was filled with faithful from all over the world crowded from appearance to appearance at all hours. day and night.
The moment phase of easing restrictions on the Grand Mosque takes effect on 18 October, allowing a maximum of 15,000 pilgrims and 40,000 for prayer between citizens depending on the hours assigned to the application.
The first organization of Muslims, allowed by appointment on the mosque grounds, practices social est estating, while conducting the Umrah at the Grand Mosque of the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia [Yasser Bakhsh / Reuters] Muslim travellers from outside Saudi Arabia It is possible that Arabia will only be allowed to carry out the Umrah from 1 November, the internal ministry said.
Saudi Arabia has recently begun to apply some restrictions on foreign flights.
The kingdom organized a drastically reduced Hajj pilgrimage in July, fearing that it would not be a global chance of superpropaging the virus.
Unlike the more than two million pilgrims the kingdom hosts for the annual event, 1,000 participated after being screened for the virus and quarantined.
Despite the first radical measures to involve the virus, Saudi Arabia has recorded nearly 336,000 cases, totaling 4,850 deaths.
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