Saudi Arabia has stopped issuing visas to foreign visitors wanting to travel to Islam’s holiest sites, Mecca and Medina, in an unprecedented move because of fears of the spreading coronavirus.
The Saudi Arabian foreign ministry released a statement on Thursday, 27 February saying that it is ‘suspending entry to the Kingdom for the purpose of Umrah and visiting the Prophet’s Mosque temporarily’, according to AFP.
Umrah refers to the pilgrimage to Mecca at any time of the year, as opposed the Hadj which takes place in a few months time and is dictated by the lunar calendar.
A pilgrim at Masjid al Haram in Mecca, Saudia Arabia. Image credit: Wikipedia Creative Commons
The decision will prevent foreigners from visiting the Kaaba, the black cube in Mecca towards which nearly 1.8 billion Muslims pray every day as well as Mohammed’s mosque in Medina.
The extraordinary decision comes as the as Middle East has reported 220 confirmed cases of coronavirus with Iran being hit the hardest.
According to Al Jazeera, ‘The earliest recorded outbreak came in 632 as pilgrims fought off malaria. A cholera outbreak in 1821 killed an estimated 20,000 pilgrims. Another cholera outbreak in 1865 killed 15,000 pilgrims and then spread worldwide.’
In 2010 the country clamped down on tourism but in April 2018 it reversed its approach and began issuing tourist visas again. Saudi Arabia is hoping to attract 30 million visitors by 2030 as part of a tourism drive as it moves away from its dependence on oil to sustain the economy.
Referring to the new travel restriction Kristian Ulrichsen, a research fellow at the James A Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University said, ‘It is unprecedented, at least in recent times, but given the worldwide spread of the virus and the global nature of the Umrah, it makes sense from a public health and safety point of view.’
