Saudi Arabia: Umrah, visit to two holy mosques restricted to fully vaccinated individuals

Individuals who have received two doses of an approved coronavirus vaccine will be able to perform Umrah and visit the two holy mosques as of October 10, the kingdom’s Ministry of Hajj and Umrah has said.

The new rule is effective from 6am on October 10, according to local media reports.

Meanwhile, those exempted from receiving the jab according to the Tawakkalna application will not be affected by the directive.

The health status on the Tawakkalna app will be shown immune only for those who received either two doses of Pfizer-BionTech, Oxford-AstraZeneca, or Moderna vaccines, or one dose of Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Those who have been issued permits and are yet to receive their second dose, have been requested to do so 48 hours before the date of the permit to avoid cancellation.

The kingdom’s health ministry had previously said that those who had received two doses of the Sinopharm or Sinovac vaccine would be accepted in Saudi Arabia, provided that they had received a booster shot of a vaccine approved by the kingdom.

On October 9, the kingdom’s health ministry announced 35 new Covid-19 infections and 51 recoveries, bringing the total number of recorded cases to 536,585.

Four deaths were also reported, raising the death toll to 8,743.

#الصحة⁩ تعلن عن تسجيل (35) حالة إصابة جديدة بفيروس كورونا (كوفيد-19)، وتسجيل (4) حالات وفيات رحمهم الله، وتسجيل (51) حالة تعافي ليصبح إجمالي عدد الحالات المتعافية (536,585) حالة ولله الحمد. pic.twitter.com/UXJ6zEa61s

— و ز ا ر ة ا لـ صـ حـ ة السعودية (@SaudiMOH) October 9, 2021