Saudi Arabia has received more than 3.45 million Umrah pilgrims by Thursday, according to weekly statistics made available by the Ministry of Haj and Umrah. The ministry also said the Kingdom issued nearly 3.9 visas for prospective pilgrims since the start of the current season. In its Umrah weekly indicator released on Thursday after accessing information such as the number of visas issued, the arrival of pilgrims in the Kingdom via air, land and sea and the number of pilgrims present in the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah, the ministry said 3,896,580 visas were issued and 3,454,398 pilgrims arrived in the Kingdom until Jamad Al-Thani 9 (Feb. 14, 2019). It said 3,023,105 people left the Kingdom after completing the rites of the minor pilgrimage in Makkah and praying at the Prophet's Mosque in Madinah. As of Thursday, 431,293 pilgrims remained in the Kingdom, with 297,147 pilgrims in Makkah and 134,146 in Madinah. According to the ministry, Pakistan remained the country that sent the largest number of pilgrims with 863,717 Pakistanis coming to perform Umrah until Thursday. They were followed by 564,273 Indonesians, 373,781 Indians, 191,214 Yemenis, 185,716 Malaysians, 177,695 Egyptians, 143,074 Turkish, 119,545 Algerians, 97,552 Jordanians and 86,476 Bangladeshis. — SG
