The Ministry of Hajj and Umrah announced an update in the procedures for entering Saudi Arabia for Umrah, which is one of the key non-oil sources of income for the kingdom.
This is done to ensure the health and safety of the Umrah Performers and visitors, the ministry said.
Based on the reports by the authorities regarding the measures taken by the Kingdom to counter COVID-19, the ministry has laid out certain guidelines, according to local media reports.
It includes all the Umrah performers arriving in the Kingdom to bring a negative certificate for an approved (PCR) test, regardless of their immunization status.
Other step includes an examination of a sample taken for rapid antigen test of COVID-19 within 48 hours of the date of departure to the Kingdom.
The ministry indicated that these new requirements will go into effect starting at 1:00 am Wednesday, February 9, 2022.
Notably, Hajj and Umrah are beneficial for Saudi’s economy as the revenue from the pilgrims is in billions of dollars.
The Hajj revenue amounted to about 12 billion dollars, which formed 7 percent of Saudi’s GDP in 2019.