*ISLAMABAD – **Saudi Arabia Ambassador in Islamabad breaks silence overreports of travel ban on Pakistani Umrah Pilgrims.*
*Pakistani Umrah pilgrims will be able to visit Saudi Arabia as thesituation improves, said Saudi Ambassador to Pakistan Nawaf bin Saidal-Malki.*
The Saudi envoy further said that travel ban on Umrah pilgrims in on‘temporary basis,’ which will be lifted as the situation improves. Malkisaid that Pakistani Umrah pilgrims will not need to renew their Umrahvisas, they can use their existing Umrah visas once the travel restrictionsare lifted.
Saudi Arabia on Thursday placed an immediate ban on Umrah pilgrimstravelling from the countries where coronavirus cases have been confirmedincluding Pakistan, after two cases of coronavirus were confirmed in thecountry.
In a statement the Kingdom’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that thecountry has temporarily suspended entry of individuals seeking to performUmrah pilgrimage or visiting the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah.
Read Top Stories
The statement further said that these precautions are temporary and aresubject to continuous evaluation by the authorities. The kingdom has notreported cases of the coronavirus, but surrounding Bahrain and Kuwait haveconfirmed cases.
The deadly virus originated in China some three weeks ago and has killedover 2,000 people. The virus also spread into other countries, includingIran, Italy, Brazil and Spain.
