Corona Virus fear: KSA prohibits nationals, residents to perform Umrah

Saudi Arabia has temporarily stopped her national and residents to perform Umrah or visiting the Prophet’s mosque in Medina.

According to the Saudi Press Agency referring sources in Interior Ministry – the great mosque of Mecca and Prophet’s mosque in the Medina are also closed for visitors as a preventive measure against the outbreak of coronavirus

“It was decided, based on the recommendation of the committee concerned with following up the developments of the situation of the new coronavirus (19-COVID), to suspend Umrah temporarily for citizens and residents in the Kingdom,” the interior ministry statement read.

The Kingdom’s interior ministry added that the decision of temporary suspension for nationals and residents visiting the Holy sites will be reviewed and lifted once “the reasons that called for it is negated.”

It is pertinent to mention that the decision comes a week after Saudi Arabia temporarily suspended entry for individuals seeking to perform the Umrah pilgrimage in Mecca or visiting the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina.

Furthermore, the kingdom also prohibited the tourists from traveling from countries where the coronavirus pretenses a risk as determined by the Kingdom’s health authorities.

The measures taken by Saudi Arabia come at a time where the region is seeing a sharp increase in the number of cases reported in the Middle East, where most of the individuals infected had traveled from Iran which has a reported death toll standing at 92 as of Wednesday, the highest outside China.