VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Saudi Arabia government opened domestic pilgrims to perform Umrah pilgrimages starting on Oct. 4 and pilgrims from abroad starting Nov. 1, 2020, as quoted by Reuters, on Wednesday.

Initially, the country does not allow the small pilgrimage since March due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

The reopening of Umrah enables up to 6,000 citizens and residents in Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah every day.

According to the SPA report, only 30 percent of the normal capacity of 20,000 pilgrims are allowed to perform the daily Umrah pilgrimage as a measure to prevent transmission of the virus.

The capacity of the new daily umrah will be increased to 75 percent after two weeks, on Oct. 18, 2020.

Meanwhile, for the opening in early November, Saudi Arabia will only allow Umrah pilgrims from countries that are considered safe, with a capacity of 100 percent until the end of the pandemic.

Apart from Umrah, Saudi government also restricted pilgrimage (Hajj), which normally can gather around three million people from around the world, to only a few thousand domestic worshipers.

Official data shows that the Hajj and Umrah services bring in revenue for Saudi Arabia of up to $12 billion or equivalent to Rp177 trillion per year.

Confirmed Covid-19 infections by Saudi Arabia until Sep. 22, 2020 was 330,798 cases, an increase of about 500 new cases from the previous day, and a total death of 4,542 cases. (RRI)