Only Fully Vaccinated Pilgrims Allowed To Perform Umrah, Prayers At Grand Mosque

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Oct, 2021 ) :The Saudi Arabia"s Ministry of Hajj and Umrah had announced that only fully vaccinated pilgrims with two doses would be allowed to apply for the permit for performing Umrah and prayer at the Grand Mosque in Makkah starting from Sunday.

The same condition would apply for the application of a permit to visit the Rawdah Sharif and the grave of the Prophet (peace be upon him) at the Prophet's Mosque in Madinah.

The ministry clarified that categories exempted from taking vaccinations, as shown by Tawakkalna application, would not be affected by the rule, Saudi Gazette reported.

The ministry asked all those who had been issued permits to take the second dose 48 hours before the date of the permit to avoid cancellation.

It's worth mentioning that appointments were available at the vaccination centers throughout the Kingdom, the report said.

The ministry said that the categories of pilgrims who had taken one dose of vaccine or recovered from infection would no longer enjoy the right to book an appointment to obtain permit for performing Umrah and prayer at the Grand Mosque besides for the visit of the Rawdah Sharif and the grave of the Prophet (pbuh) at the Prophet's Mosque in Madinah through the Eatmarna and Tawakkalna applications.

The ministry indicated that all precautionary and preventive measures related to the pandemic were subject to continuous evaluation by the Public Health Authority (Weqaya), according to the developments in the epidemiological situation.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health had announced that the health status on the Tawakkalna application would be updated effective after Oct. 10 and under which the status of immunization would be given only for those people who had completed vaccination.

According to the new update, the health status would be shown immune on the Tawakkalna application only for those who received two doses of any of the vaccines of Pfizer-BionTech, Oxford-AstraZeneca, and Moderna, or one dose of Johnson and Johnson vaccine.

The MoH emphasized that the health status of immune would not include those who had received one dose of vaccine and recovered from infection of coronavirus before or after the date of taking the first dose.