Finally, inoculated foreign pilgrims can perform Umrah in Saudi Arabia  

In a welcome move, Ministry of Hajj and Umrah of Saudi Arabia has announced on Sunday that the kingdom has decided to accept foreign pilgrims, who want to perform Umrah in the Grand Mosque of Makkah under the updated coronavirus-related restrictions.  

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In a statement on Twitter, the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah has shared the requirements of vaccination for Umrah pilgrims, who will be "coming from abroad". It has also shared the list of the jabs approved by the Saudi Arabia.  

As per the new directive, the pilgrims, who are travelling to Saudi Arabia on Umrah visa and have been inoculated with any vaccine approved by the kingdom will get to perform Umrah immediately. They will not have to go into quarantine upon arrival.  

The pilgrims, who are travelling on Umrah visas and have been inoculated with any of the vaccines approved by the World Health Organisation, will have to go undergo quarantine for three days on the arrival.  

At the end of the quarantine, the pilgrims would have to also submit a negative report of the PCR test, which should have been taken 48 hours after the arrival.  

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The list says that the pilgrims must have got two shots of Oxford AstraZeneca, Comirnaty, Pfizer/BioNtech, SK Bioscience, Vaxzevria, Covishield, Moderna or Spikevax or one dose of Johnson & Johnson.  

(With inputs from agencies)