Saudi Arabia no longer fears the Covid-19 epidemic.
After three years of virus-related restrictions, no limits will be imposed on the occasion of the hajj.
“The number of pilgrims will return to what it was before the pandemic, without any age limit,” Hajj Minister Toufic al Rabiha told a press conference in Riyadh.
Last year, nearly 900,000 faithful, including some 780,000 foreigners drawn by lot, were welcomed to Mecca, the first holy place of Islam in the west of the kingdom, provided they were aged under 65. years, to be vaccinated and to present a negative PCR test.
In 2021, to limit the spread of the virus, only 60,000 residents of Saudi Arabia had been authorized to make the great annual pilgrimage and barely a thousand the previous year - compared to 2.5 million Muslims around the world in 2019.
One of the five pillars of Islam, the hajj consists of a series of rites to be performed over five days, in Mecca and the surrounding region, by any Muslim who can afford it, at least once in his life.
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