Mecca reopens to pilgrims but only from Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia has reopened the holy city of Mecca to pilgrims for the first time since the start of the pandemic.

Pilgrims circumambulate the Kaaba in the Grand Mosque complex in Mecca on Sunday. Picture: AFP

Saudi Arabia has reopened the holy city of Mecca to pilgrims for the first time since the start of the pandemic.

Only 6000 people a day are allowed to enter the Grand Mosque complex, however, representing 30 per cent of the usual number of visitors during the umrah, the lesser of the two pilgrimages to Islam’s holiest site which can be made at any time of year.

Only Saudi nationals and permanent residents are permitted, although the site will be opened to foreign visitors from November 1. More than 19 million people travelled to Mecca in 2019 to perform the umrah.

The first pilgrims began circling the kaaba, the silk-draped building at the centre of the mosque, on Sunday.

Normally they would touch its walls, but that has been banned and the site is being disinfected several times a day.

Saudis and foreign residents walk down a hallway during Umrah in the Grand Mosque complex in the holy city of Mecca on Sunday. Picture: AFP

Visitors have to book their slots through a dedicated app and can stay for only three hours.

The Ministry of Haj and Umrah reported that more than 100,000 slots were granted in the first four days of the app going ­online.

The haj, the major pilgrimage which normally attracts nearly 2.5 million Muslims from around the world each year, would have been held in July but was cancelled due to the pandemic with just 1000 locals taking part in a symbolic event.

Saudi Arabia has had 335,997 confirmed cases of the disease and 4850 deaths, and was hit by a second wave of infections in June.

Riyadh now claims to have brought transmission under ­control.

The impact of the months-long closure is likely to be far-reaching, however.

The two pilgrimages bring in more than $16bn, about 7 per cent of Saudi Arabia’s gross domestic product, and expansion of religious tourism is a keystone in the country’s plan under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the effective ruler, to wean its economy off its dependence on oil revenues.

The Times