About one million pilgrims from across the world are converging at Mina in Saudi Arabia as the annual five-day Haj pilgrimage began today. More than 79 thousand pilgrims from India are participating in the pilgrimage after a gap of two years due to COVID-19 pandemic. The pilgrims began their journey from holy city of Mecca to assemble in Mina. They will spend the night there and move towards plains of Arafat at dawn tomorrow for the day’s main ritual of Haj, reciting prayers. Only those people are allowed to take part in pilgrimage who are below 65 years of age and have been vaccinated against COVID-19.
The Haj pilgrimage was restricted to sixty thousand local residents from the Kingdom last year to contain spread of pandemics and to ensure safety of pilgrims.
Around 2.5 million pilgrims including record two lakh pilgrims from India performed Haj in 2019 before the pandemic outbreak.
