Saudi Arabia suspends Mecca pilgrimage temporarily amid Coronavirus fear

Saudi Arabia on Thursday suspended foreigners’ entry for Umrah and tourism from countries where the Coronavirus has spread, as a number of cases outside China has deepened the fears of epidemic.

Saudi Arabia, home to two of theholiest sites in Islam, located in Madina and Makkah, welcomes tons of pilgrims throughout the year. It even introduced a new tourism visa last October for 49 countries. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement stating that the suspensions would be temporary, but there is no timeframe for their expiry. As of now, it is not yet clear if Haj, which is scheduled to start in late July, would be impacted by this step.
Latest reports also state that entry has also been suspended for visits to Masjid-e-Nabvi in Madina. Till now, Saudi Arabia has not registered any case of the Coronavirus, even though it has been spreading in some neighbouring countries.

Top tourism officials from Saudi Arabia said that this week, 400000 tourist visas have been issued since they started issuing in October, and that their country is aiming to attract 100 million tourists in 2030.
As per records, the number of new coronavirus infections inside China has now been overtaken by new cases elsewhere, with Italy and Iran emerging as epicentres of this virus.

While Asia reported hundreds of new cases, Brazil confirmed Latin America’s first infection, whereas the virus has also been detected in Pakistan, Norway, Sweden, Romania, Greece, and Algeria.