Saudi Arabia allows 60,000 vaccinated locals on ‘hajj’
AFP, RIYADH
Saudi Arabia on Saturday said that it would allow 60,000 residents vaccinated against COVID-19 to perform this year’s hajj, but Muslims from abroad would be barred for a second consecutive year.
The hajj a requirement for able-bodied Muslims at least once in their lives typically packs millions of pilgrims into congested religious sites and could be a major source of contagion amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
This year it would be “open for nationals and residents of the kingdom, limited to 60,000 pilgrims,” the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Hajj and Umrah said, quoted by the official Saudi Press Agency.