Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — The Ministry of Hajj and Umrah will announce on Friday the names of applicants who have been selected to perform Hajj this year.

A total of 60,000 domestic pilgrims, including citizens and residents, will be picked from out of more than 540,000 aspiring pilgrims who have applied through the ministry’s electronic track for the annual pilgrimage.

The ministry stressed that there will be no priority for those who made early registration, and that booking and purchasing packages of Hajj will start at 1 p.m. on Friday. Registration for those wishing to perform this year’s Hajj rituals has been limited to only citizens and residents who are currently inside the Kingdom.

The ministry closed at 10 p.m. on Wednesday the door for registration on its electronic track. Earlier, in a statement, the ministry attributed the limiting of registration for a total of 60,000 pilgrims from among citizens and residents inside Saudi Arabia to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the emergence of new variants in various parts of the world.

The ministry underlined that those wishing to perform Hajj rituals shall be free from chronic diseases, and to be within the age groups between 18 and 65 years.

It is mandatory for the pilgrims to be inoculated against coronavirus and that is in accordance with the controls and mechanisms followed in the Kingdom for the immunization categories, with taking two doses of vaccine or completing 14 days after taking the first dose or having recovered from the disease.