The first batch of Umrah performers coming from abroad arrived at Prince Mohammad Bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Madinah Friday to perform Umrah rituals and greet the Prophet (peace be upon him) and his two companions (may Allah be pleased with them). The batch consists of 100 Umrah performers coming from Irbil, the Republic of Iraq. At the airport, the Umrah performers were received by a number of officials amid precautionary and preventive measures against coronavirus. Applying precautionary measures, the airport's passport department spared no efforts to finish the procedures smoothly amid an integrated plan to provide all services to the them by using state-of-the-art equipment. Recently, the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah welcomed the arrival of Umrah performers from outside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through its airports with the first batch of 50 pilgrims coming from Iraq. The Ministry had halted accepting Umrah applications as a precautionary measure to curb the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The phase of accepting Umrah applications from outside Saudi Arabia gradually follows a previous phase that allowed citizens and residents to perform Umrah. The Ministry, in coordination with stakeholders, is working to facilitate the arrival of Umrah performers from abroad and update the list of countries that people can directly come from. — SPA
