A group of Hajj pilgrims from Indonesia has landed in the city of Medina from where they will be travelling to the holy city of Mecca, marking the arrival of the first batch of pilgrims from outside the kingdom after two years due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to state media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saudi Arabia last month announced it would allow one million people \u2013 from both inside and outside the kingdom \u2013 to perform the Hajj which will take place in July compared with about 60,000 last year and less than 1,000 in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cToday we received the first group of this year\u2019s pilgrims from Indonesia, and the flights will continue from Malaysia and India,\u201d Mohammed al-Bijawi of the country\u2019s Hajj Ministry said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cToday we are happy to receive the guests of God from outside the kingdom, after a two-year interruption due to the pandemic,\u201d he added, describing Saudi Arabia as \u201cfully prepared\u201d to accommodate them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
About 2.5 million people participated in 2019 \u2013 the last Hajj before the coronavirus outbreak.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A group of Hajj pilgrims from Indonesia has landed in the city of Medina from where they will be travelling to the holy city of Mecca, marking the arrival of the first batch of pilgrims from outside the kingdom after two years due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to state media. Saudi Arabia last month …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":83327,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_108372464460192_245495985553329":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[370],"class_list":["post-83326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-saudi","tag-hajj"],"yoast_head":"\n