Saudi relaxes Umrah curbs; UAE malls to operate at 80% capacity

Kingdom to pay families of medical workers; cinemas, restaurants allowed 80% operation in UAE; rapid test counters to be set up at Pakistan airports; Iran records over 500 virus deaths, hits new high.

RIYADH

Saudi Arabia will gradually begin receiving Umrah pilgrimage requests from abroad for vaccinated pilgrims starting Monday (Aug.9) after about a year and a half of not receiving overseas worshippers due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

With a capacity that would rise to 2 million pilgrims from 60,000 pilgrims per month, Makkah and Medina will start welcoming visitors from abroad to their mosques while maintaining COVID-19 precautionary measures.

An official in the Hajj and Umrah Ministry said domestic and overseas pilgrims will have to include authorized COVID-19 vaccination certificates along with their Umrah request.

Vaccinated pilgrims from countries that Saudi Arabia includes on its entry-ban list will have to be institutionally quarantined upon arrival, the report added.

Foreign pilgrims must be immunised with a Saudi-recognised vaccine — Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson — and agree to undergo quarantine if necessary, the SPA said quoting deputy Hajj Minister Dr Abdulfatah Bin Sulaiman Mashat.

Saudi has begun compensating the families of health workers who died because of the coronavirus after announcing last year that each will receive $133,000.