Saudi opens hajj registration for international residents
Saudi Arabia on Mon opened hajj sign up for foreign residents in the kingdom, saying they'll constitute 70 percent of the pilgrims just after it scaled-back the annual ritual due to coronavirus.
Saudi Arabia has said it will allow only around 1,000 pilgrims already within the kingdom to take part in this year’s hajj, scheduled for the finish of July, a long way off from the two 2.5 million who attended the five-day pilgrimage this past year.
Overseas residents, aged between 20 and 65 who've no past health ailments such as for example diabetes and heart conditions, are permitted to register in https://localhaj.haj.gov.sa., the hajj ministry explained.
The registration process will be open until Friday, it added.
Saudi citizens can make up the leftover 30 percent of the pilgrims, with the ritual restricted to doctors and security personnel who've recovered from the virus, the ministry said.
“They will be selected through the database of those who've recovered from the virus,” the ministry said in a statement carried by the state Saudi Press Agency.
The pilgrims will be tested for coronavirus before arriving in the holy city of Makkah and are required to quarantine in the home after the ritual, according to health officials.
Last month, Saudi Arabia announced it could hold a “not a lot of” hajj, a decision fraught with political and financial peril since it battles a coronavirus surge.
The decision to exclude pilgrims arriving from outside Saudi Arabia is an initial in the kingdom’s contemporary history and has sparked disappointment among Muslims worldwide, although some accepted it had been necessary as a result of health risks involved.
Saudi Arabia has so far reported a lot more than 213,000 coronavirus infections - the highest in the Gulf - and nearly 2,000 deaths.
