Saudi Arabia opens Umrah to vaccinated people from abroad

Saudi Arabia will gradually begin receiving Umrah requests from abroad for vaccinated pilgrims starting August 9, the state news agency (SPA) said early Sunday.

It comes nearly a year-and-a-half after it had closed to overseas worshippers due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

With a capacity that would rise to 2 million pilgrims from 60,000 pilgrims per month, Mecca and Medina will start welcoming visitors from abroad to their mosques while maintaining COVID-19 precautionary measures.

An official in the Hajj and Umrah Ministry said domestic and overseas pilgrims will have to include authorised COVID-19 vaccination certificates along with their Umrah request.

Vaccinated pilgrims from countries that Saudi Arabia includes on its entry-ban list will have to be institutionally quarantined upon arrival, the report added.

Umrah, a pilgrimage to Islam's two holiest sites that is undertaken at any time of the year, was reopened in October for domestic worshippers.