Nearly 18 months after it closed its borders to battle coronavirus, Saudi Arabia will from Monday begin “gradually receiving umrah requests from various countries”, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
The umrah can be undertaken at any time and usually draws millions from around the globe, unlike the annual hajj, in which able-bodied Muslims who have the means must perform at least once in their lifetime.
The Covid-19 pandemic hugely disrupted both Muslim pilgrimages, which are usually key revenue earners for the kingdom that rake in a combined $12 billion annually.
Before Sunday’s announcement, only immunised pilgrims residing in Saudi Arabia were eligible for umrah permits.
And last month only around 60,000 inoculated residents was allowed to take part in a scaled-down form of the annual hajj.
But the kingdom is slowly opening up and has started welcoming vaccinated foreign tourists since August 1.
Foreign pilgrims must be immunised with a Saudi-recognised vaccine — Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson — and agree to undergo quarantine if necessary, the SPA said quoting deputy hajj minister Abdulfattah bin Sulaiman Mashat.
He added that the kingdom was working on determining the destinations from which pilgrims can come and their numbers on a “periodic basis according to the classification of preventive measures” in those countries.