Saudi Arabia will lift the suspension of Umrah pilgrimage and visits to the holy sites in phases after nine months of closure due to coronavirus pandemic , local media reported.

In the first phase limited domestic pilgrims starting will be allowed to perform Umrah from October 4, 2020. The first phase of resuming Umrah will allow 6000 pilgrims to perform the rituals a day in the Grand Mosque

#BREAKING: #SaudiArabia to resume Umrah and visits to the Two Holy Mosques gradually with limited domestic pilgrims starting from October 4, 2020 pic.twitter.com/71tn3WZvnG

— Saudi Gazette (@Saudi_Gazette) September 22, 2020

#BREAKING: #SaudiArabia announces that the first phase of resuming Umrah will allow 6000 pilgrims to perform the rituals a day in the Grand Mosque pic.twitter.com/0aaCHQ0xVT

— Saudi Gazette (@Saudi_Gazette) September 22, 2020

Second phase of resuming #Umrah will enable 15,000 domestic pilgrims to perform the rituals a day in the Grand Mosque starting from October 18

#BREAKING: #SaudiArabia announces that the first phase of resuming Umrah will allow 6000 pilgrims to perform the rituals a day in the Grand Mosque pic.twitter.com/0aaCHQ0xVT

— Saudi Gazette (@Saudi_Gazette) September 22, 2020

The third phase of resuming Umrah and prayers in The Two Holy Mosques will allow pilgrims from inside and outside Saudi Arabia to perform the rituals starting from November 1, 2020, with a limited numbers

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#BREAKING: The third phase of resuming #Umrah and prayers in The Two Holy Mosques will allow pilgrims from inside and outside #SaudiArabia to perform the rituals starting from November 1, 2020, with a limited numbers pic.twitter.com/bFqh6eSHWz

— Saudi Gazette (@Saudi_Gazette) September 22, 2020

“The gradual resumption of Umrah and visits to the holly sites will rely on technical solutions that enable companies providing Umrah services to further improve their services as well as to promote themselves locally and globally,” he added

Abddulfattah Mashat, the deputy minister of Hajj and Umrah said that in 2019, 5.3 million Saudi citizens, 6.4 million expats, 1.2 million residents of Gulf Cooperation Council countries, and 7.5 million people from other parts of the world performed Umrah.

He further said tha pilgrims traveling from other nations previously had to go through an agent and a registered Umrah company to obtain a visa and make other arrangements. However, the ministry is taking steps to improve the entire system, he added.