Riyadh (agencies)
Yesterday, Saudi Arabia received the first pilgrims from outside the Kingdom, for the first time since the outbreak of the “Covid-19” epidemic, which prompted the authorities to limit the performance of rituals to residents in the country. Pilgrims from Indonesia arrived in Medina yesterday, to visit the Prophet’s Mosque, before heading to the holy city of Mecca to prepare to perform the pilgrimage next month.
The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah for Visit Affairs, Muhammad Al-Bijawi, said: “We have received the first pioneers of pilgrims from Indonesia this year, and the flights will continue from Malaysia and India.” He continued, “We are happy to receive the guests of Allah from outside the Kingdom, following a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic.”
Yesterday, the Saudi Ministry of Interior announced that there are 5 countries in which the procedures for pilgrims are completed before their arrival in the Kingdom to perform the Hajj this year.
And the Saudi Press Agency “SPA” stated that the Ministry of Interior launched the “Makkah Road” initiative, as part of the initiatives of the “Guests of Rahman” program, one of the programs of the Saudi Vision 2030, in 5 countries, including Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Morocco and Bangladesh.
The ministry explained that the “Makkah Road” initiative aims to “receive the pilgrims and complete their procedures from their countries with ease, starting with issuing the visa electronically and taking the vital characteristics, and passing through the completion of passport procedures at the airport of the country of departure following verifying the availability of health requirements, in addition to coding and sorting.” Luggage according to transportation and housing arrangements in Saudi Arabia, and upon arrival, they move directly to buses to take them to their places of residence in Makkah and Madinah, with designated paths, while the service authorities deliver their luggage to their homes.
It is noteworthy that the Ministry of Interior is implementing the initiative in cooperation with the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Health, Hajj and Umrah, the General Authority of Civil Aviation, the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority, the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAYA), the Program for Serving the Guests of Rahman, the General Directorate of Passports, and Elm Company.
Saudi Arabia is preparing to allow one million Muslims to perform Hajj this year from inside and outside the kingdom, as it announced last April.
The number of pilgrims in 2019 reached regarding 2.5 million, but following the outbreak of “Corona”, Saudi Arabia allowed only 1,000 people from inside the kingdom to perform the Hajj, before the number was raised the following year to 60,000. The Ministry of Hajj has set regulations stipulating that this year’s Hajj be “for the age group less than 65 years old, with the requirement to complete immunization with basic doses of Covid-19 vaccines approved by the Saudi Ministry of Health.”
The authorities required pilgrims from outside the Kingdom to submit a negative coronavirus test result for a sample taken within 72 hours before the departure date.