Makkah: The second phase of Umrah resumption is set to start from October 18 when the number of pilgrims will be increased from the existing 6,000 daily to 250,000, according to the latest update.
Umrah services resumed in the Holy City of Makkah from October 4 after a lull of more than six months because of coronavirus.
The Ministry of Hajj and Umrah in Saudi Arabia had earlier announced three-phase program to resume Umrah.
As part of this program, in the first two phases only pilgrims living in the Kingdom will be allowed to visit the Holy sites and perform Umrah.
In the first phase which started on October 4, only 6,000 pilgrims from within the Kingdom are performing Umrah every day.
From October 18 onwards, the second phase will start and the number of pilgrims to the Holy sites in Makkah and Madinah will be increased from 6000 to 250,000.
According to the local media reports, pilgrims will also be allowed to visit Rawdah of the Prophet Muhammed from October 18 onwards. Worshipers need to register through the Eatmarna App to obtain permits to perform Umrah as well as to visit the Grand Mosque and Rawdah Sharif.
Pilgrims from outside of the Kingdom will be allowed to perform Umrah from November 1, 2020.
More clarity however is still needed for the pilgrims from India if they will be issued Umrah Visa from November 1 or not. This is because Saudi Arabia had recently added India in the list of countries visitors from where will have to wait a bit longer because of the rising number of Corona cases.
India along with Pakistan is among the few countries of the world which send maximum number of Umrah pilgrims.
Umrah services were banned and suspended in February this year after the Covid-19 cases in Saudi Arabia started rising. This is the first time in the history that the Holy sites were resricted for such a long time.
Ummid
