Saudi allows foreign Haj pilgrims now
Jeddah: The uncertainty of lakhs of Muslims who are eagerly looking forward to undertake the journey of a lifetime Haj, came to an end as Saudi Arabia has decided to welcome foreign Haj pilgrims after a gap of two years. Saudi Arabia has revised the number of Haj pilgrims for this year to one million, […]
Jeddah: The uncertainty of lakhs of Muslims who are eagerly looking forward to undertake the journey of a lifetime Haj, came to an end as Saudi Arabia has decided to welcome foreign Haj pilgrims after a gap of two years. Saudi Arabia has revised the number of Haj pilgrims for this year to one million, including domestic and foreign pilgrims, state news agency SPA reported.
The ministry of Haj and Umrah has announced that it has authorized one million pilgrims, both for foreign and domestic, to perform Haj in 2022. Those coming from outside Saudi Arabia will be required to submit a negative Covid-19 PCR result from a test taken within 72 hours of travel and under 65 years, it said. It is noteworthy to mention that prior to pandemic 2.5 million pilgrims performed Haj in 2019. Two lakh Indian Hajis were among them.
The latest announced figure is reduced to more than half. However, compared with the previous year of 2021 amidst the peak of pandemic, Saudi Arabia allowed only 60,000 fully vaccinated local pilgrims only. In 2020 it allowed only 1,000 local pilgrims to perform Haj, this year’s figure is much higher. The capping of age limit to 65 is likely to impact a significant number of Indian pilgrims according to Haj operators.
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