The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will reimplement social distancing as the Omicron variant of the coronavirus surges across the globe. On Wednesday, the General Presidency for the Affairs of the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque decided that worshippers and Umrah performers would have to maintain social distance once again.
According to Gulf Today, an official source in the General Presidency for the Affairs of the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque stated that it has been decided to restore the physical distancing procedures in the two holy places; the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque starting from seven in the morning on Thursday, December 30, 2021.
With a rise in COVID-19 infections, the safety of pilgrims has been kept in mind and the authorities have decided to reintroduce physical distancing.
For achieving the application of precautionary measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 mutants and preserve the health and safety of the pilgrims, physical distancing will be applied between worshipers, reorganising the place of worship, and distribution of pilgrims on virtual circumambulation paths.
All visitors of the Two Holy Mosques and their workers have been stressed by authorities to practice precautionary measures, especially the use of face masks, which has been made compulsory. Other than that, visitors will have to keep an appropriate physical distance, comply with the timings specified for entrance, and instructions applied by the authorities operating in the Two Holy Mosques.
The social distancing measures were tapered off in October and full capacity attendance of worshippers was allowed by Saudi authorities. It was made sure that people coming to Makkah and Madinah were fully vaccinated.
