Umrah Pilgrimage: KSA to reopen borders to vaccinated pilgrims

Saudi Arabia will begin accepting vaccinated foreigners wanting to make the umrah pilgrimage, authorities said yesterday, a move that will boost an economy hit by the Covid pandemic.

Nearly 18 months after it closed its borders to battle coronavirus, Saudi Arabia will begin "gradually receiving umrah requests from various countries" from today, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

The umrah can be undertaken at any time and usually draws millions from around the globe, unlike the annual hajj, which abled-bodied Muslims who have the means must perform at least once in their lifetime.

The Covid-19 pandemic hugely disrupted both Muslim pilgrimages, which are usually key revenue earners for the kingdom that rake in a combined $12 billion annually.

Before yesterday's announcement, only immunised pilgrims residing in Saudi Arabia were eligible for umrah permits.

And last month only around 60,000 inoculated residents were allowed to take part in a scaled down form of the annual hajj.

But the kingdom is slowly opening up, and has started welcoming vaccinated foreign tourists since August 1.

Foreign pilgrims must be immunised with a Saudi-recognised vaccine -- Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson -- and agree to undergo quarantine if necessary, the SPA said quoting deputy hajj minister Abdulfattah bin Sulaiman Mashat.

He added that the kingdom was working on determining the destinations from which pilgrims can come and their numbers on a "periodic basis according to the classification of preventive measures" in those countries.

The kingdom has also begun compensating the families of health workers who died because of the coronavirus, state media reported yesterday, after announcing last year that each will receive $133,000.

The authorities said in October it would distribute "500,000 Saudi riyals to the families of those who died as a result of Covid-19 working in the health sectors, be it government or private, civilian or military, Saudi or non-Saudi".

The oil-rich Gulf country said the decision applies from "the date of the first recorded infection" in the country on March 2, 2020.

MALAYSIA TO EASE CURBS

Malaysia will ease coronavirus curbs for fully vaccinated people in states comprising about half the country, its premier said yesterday.

The move, which takes effect from tomorrow, will allow millions to cross district borders, play individual outdoor sports and eat in restaurants in eight states where cases have fallen and vaccination rates are promising.

A lockdown since June has shut down thousands of businesses and limited most peoples' travel to the districts where they lived, though sectors of the economy have gradually been allowed to open.

"More people are receiving complete vaccinations... the burden on the public health system will reduce," Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said in a televised speech.

Iran reported over 500 daily Covid deaths for the first time yesterday, its health ministry announced, as new infections also hit a record high.

The country registered 39,619 new infections in the 24 hours to yesterday, taking the total since the pandemic started to 4,158,729, the ministry said.  During that same period it recorded 542 deaths, taking the total number of fatalities to 94,015, it added.

Brunei imposed strict curbs to halt the spread of Covid-19, after finding its first locally transmitted cases in the country in over a year. Seven community infections were found, the health ministry said Saturday, leading the government to close all places of worship and postpone social events for two weeks. 

India reported 39,070 new cases of the coronavirus in the last 24 hours, the federal health ministry said yesterday, taking its tally to 31.93 million cases. Deaths rose by 491, taking total fatalities to 427,862.

Vietnam's health ministry reported 9,690 infections yesterday, a record daily increase and up from 7,334 cases on Saturday. Most of the new infections were detected in the epicentre Ho Chi Minh City and the neighbouring provinces of Binh Duong and Dong Nai, the ministry said.

The Philippines' health ministry yesterday recorded 9,671 new coronavirus cases and 287 additional deaths, the biggest single-day spike in the country's death toll since April 9.

In a bulletin, the ministry said total confirmed infections in the Southeast Asian country had risen to 1.66 million, while the death toll had climbed to 29,122.

Australia's three most populous states of New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland reported a total of 282 Covid-19 new locally acquired infections yesterday, with authorities struggling to quell outbreaks of the Delta variant.