RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry makes important announcement overUmrah Pilgrims in holy cities of Makkah and Madina.
Saudi Arabia on Wednesday temporarily suspended its citizens and residentsfrom visiting the two holy sites of Makkah and Madina over coronavirusfears, the country’s news agency reported.
“Based on the recommendation of the committee concerned to follow up thedevelopments of the situation of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), it wasdecided to suspend *Umrah *temporarily for citizens and residents in theKingdom,” said the SPA, quoting a state official.
Last Thursday, Riyadh had placed an immediate ban on Umrah pilgrimstravelling from the countries where coronavirus cases have been confirmed,including Pakistan.
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Umrah attracts tens of thousands of Muslims from all over the globe eachmonth. The foreign ministry said it was also suspending visas for touristsvisiting from countries where the new virus is a “danger”.First case of coronavirus
Saudi Arabia on Monday confirmed its first case of coronavirus, thecountry’s health ministry confirmed.
The ministry said the patient was a Saudi man who returned from Iran to theKingdom via Bahrain. It added that the man had not revealed his travelhistory.
The Kingdom had prepared 25 hospitals beforehand to handle any coronaviruscases, the ministry’s spokesperson, Mohammed Abdelali, had said a dayearlier, as part of the precautionary measures that included closing itsborders to foreign Umrah pilgrims.
At least 2,200 hospital beds were dedicated for quarantine cases, Abdelalihad told a news conference. Saudi Arabia’s trade activity had not beenimpacted and was “going as usual”, he had said at the time.
