Saudi Arabia announced Saturday this year’s hajj pilgrimage will be limited to no more than 60,000 people, all of them from within the kingdom, due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. … It said this year’s hajj, which will begin in mid-July, will be limited to those ages 18 to 65.
Saudi Arabia will allow 60,000 of its residents vaccinated against the coronavirus to make the hajj, a great Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca which is due to take place in July, a drastically reduced quota for the second year in a row in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Those who want to perform the hajj must be residents or nationals, be between 18 and 65 years old, not suffer from a chronic disease and have been vaccinated, the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah said on Saturday in a statement relayed by the official SPA agency.
During the last hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam, only tens of thousands of faithful residing in Saudi Arabia were able to perform this rite, against 2.5 million participants from around the world in 2019.
“Considering the huge crowd that performs the hajj, spending long moments in several specific places, the highest level of health precaution is necessary,” added the Hajj ministry.
