Three years after restrictions limiting the number of pilgrims for Hajj in a move to curb the COVID-19 pandemic, Saudi Arabia has announced that it will no longer restrict the number of pilgrims for this year’s Hajj.
Minister of Hajj and Umrah, Tawfiq al Rabiah, said, “The number of pilgrims will return to what it was before the pandemic, without any age limit.”
This year’s Hajj pilgrimage, which all able-bodied Muslims with the means are required to perform at least once in their lifetime, is scheduled for June.
Before the pandemic in 2019, about 2.5 million people took part in the rituals. For the next two years, numbers were drastically curtailed due to the pandemic.
In 2022, nearly 900,000 pilgrims, including some 780,000 from abroad, were welcomed to Islam’s holiest cities of Mecca and Medina.
At that time, they had to be aged under 65. They were also required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and to present a negative test.
