A limited number of citizens and residents were allowed to enter the Great Mosque of Mecca during the first phase of reopening.
A limited number of people surrounded Islam’s holiest site in Mecca on Sunday after Saudi Arabia lifted restrictions on the coronavirus that had been in place for months.
The kingdom took the rare step of suspending Umrah, the smallest pilgrimage that draws millions throughout the year from around the world, in early March when the coronavirus morphed into a global pandemic and prompted countries to impose closures and curfews to slow down the transmission.
But as nations begin to ease those restrictions, the Saudi government on Sunday began allowing a maximum of 6,000 pilgrims a day to enter the Great Mosque in Mecca.
Only Saudi citizens and residents will be able to enter the mosque during this first reopening phase, and each pilgrim has up to three hours to complete the pilgrimage.
The Great Mosque, which is sterilized and cleaned several times a day, houses the Kaaba, to which practicing Muslims pray five times a day.
Worshipers who wish to enter the mosque for Friday prayers or to perform Umrah must request the date and time reservation through an online application launched by the authorities to avoid overcrowding.
The Saudi Arabian minister said that each group of 20 to 25 pilgrims will be accompanied by a health worker and medical teams will be on the ground in case of emergency.
State television on Sunday showed what appeared to be fewer than 50 people circling the Kaaba at the same time and walking several meters away. Usually the mosque would be packed with worshipers from all over the world huddled shoulder to shoulder at all times of the day and night.
The second phase to relax restrictions on the Great Mosque goes into effect on October 18, allowing a maximum of 15,000 pilgrims and 40,000 for prayer between residents and citizens based on times allotted through the app.
The first group of Muslims, allowed into the mosque compound by appointment, practice social distancing, while performing Umrah in the Great Mosque of the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia. [Yasser Bakhsh/Reuters]
Muslim travelers from outside Saudi Arabia could be allowed to perform Umrah from November 1, the Interior Ministry said.
Saudi Arabia recently began easing some restrictions on international flights.
The kingdom held a drastically reduced Hajj pilgrimage in July due to concerns that it could easily have turned into a global virus super-spread event.
In contrast to the more than two million pilgrims the kingdom hosts for the annual event, just 1,000 participated after being screened for the virus and quarantined.
Despite taking early and radical steps to contain the virus, Saudi Arabia has recorded nearly 336,000 cases, including 4,850 deaths.
