courtesy: cnn.com
On Tuesday, the Haj Committee of India had rejected all applications for the 2021 year’s Haj due to Saudi Arabia barring people from outside the country due to COVID-19 pandemic.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has decided to allow citizens and residents inside the kingdom of Saudi Arabia only to attend Haj 1442 in limited numbers. The international Haj has been cancelled. It has been decided by the Haj committee of India that all the applications for Haj-2021 stood cancelled.
The Haj and Umrah Ministry of Saudi Arabia on June 12 said that it would only allow 60,000 fully vaccinated residents between the ages 18 to 65 to attend Haj 1442. Another point highlighted by the ministry was that no pilgrims should suffer from any chronic disease.
The Saudi Arabia Health Minister, Tawfiq Al-Rabiah said in a press conference in Riyadh on Saturday that “In the light of the what the entire world is witnessing with the COVID-19 pandemic and the emergence of new variants, the relevant authorities have continued to monitor the global health situation. Considering the large crowds that perform Hajj, spending long periods of time in multiple and specific places that require the highest level of health precautions.”
The ministry also mentioned that the pilgrims have to be vaccinated with the COVID-19 shots from Pfizer Inc, AstraZeneca Plc, Moderna Inc, and Johnson & Johnson in order to attend the Hajj. This is the second time in a row that Saudi Arabia had barred people from the outside from attending the Hajj. The ministry had only allowed 10,000 of Muslims to attend the Hajj in 2020 compared to the 2.5 million who attended the sacred event in the year 2019.