Saudi Arabia will allow 1 million pilgrims for Hajj this year

Saudi Arabia will this year allow a total of 1 million people from home and abroad to participate in the traditional Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, the Hajj. Due to the corona virus, the kingdom only allowed 60,000 people from its own country for the pilgrimage last year. In 2020 there were even fewer with 10,000 pilgrims.

All participants in this edition of the Hajj must not be older than 65 years of age and must be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. In addition to the aforementioned rules, foreign pilgrims must also show a negative corona test, state news agency SPA announced.

Last month, the Saudi government announced it would remove most of the corona rules, including social distancing in public areas such as mosques. At that time it was already taken into account that this was pre-sorting with the expansion of the admission requirements for the hajj. A face mask is still mandatory inside in Saudi Arabia.

The Hajj is obligatory for any sane Muslim who can afford the trek and is considered one of the pillars of the Islamic faith. This year the pilgrimage runs from 7 to 12 July. In 2019, before the outbreak of the corona pandemic, 2.5 million believers went to Mecca. 1.8 million of them came from abroad. Before the pandemic, Saudi Arabia earned about 11 billion euros annually from the hajj and the other, smaller pilgrimage umrah.