Arab News

Vaccine required to enter Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah

SR10,000 fine on anyone who tries to perform Umrah without permit

- Rashid Hassan Riyadh

Saudi Arabia has announced that only vaccinated or immune worshipper­s will be allowed to enter the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah and that pilgrims who perform Umrah without a permit during Ramadan will be fined SR10,000 ($2,666) in a bid to prevent spread of the coronaviru­s.

An official source in the Ministry of Interior said that a fine of SR10,000 will be imposed on anyone who tries to perform Umrah without a permit, while an SR1,000 fine will be handed to people who try and enter the Grand Mosque in Makkah without a permit.

These penalties will remain in place until the end of the coronaviru­s pandemic.

Meanwhile, as the number of confirmed coronaviru­s cases in the Kingdom continues to increase, the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah confirmed the launch of the updated versions of the Eatmarna and Tawakkalna applicatio­ns, in cooperatio­n with the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligen­ce Authority.

Through the new versions, citizens and residents can request the issuance and reservatio­ns for Umrah, visit and prayer permits during the holy month of Ramadan, with the display of permits being

The total number of coronaviru­s cases in KSA reached 396,758.

exclusive to the Tawakkalna app. This technical integratio­n looks to increase operationa­l capacity and maintain precaution­ary measures inside the Grand Mosque in Makkah, and to verify the security features and immunizati­on status of permit applicants.

The Ministry

of

Health announced 904 new coronaviru­s cases on Friday, bringing the Kingdom’s total case number over the course of the pandemic to 396,758. Of Saudi Arabia’s 7,823 active cases, 898 are in critical condition.

There were 540 new recoveries in the Kingdom, raising the tally to 382,198.

The ministry said that nine more people died from coronaviru­srelated complicati­ons, raising the national death toll to 6,737.

In terms of vaccinatio­ns, the Kingdom has administer­ed more than 6 million coronaviru­s jabs with the MoH announcing that residents older than the age of 75 no longer need to reserve time slots to receive the vaccine.

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