Government to refine SOPs for umrah travel - Ahmad Marzuk

KOTA BHARU: The government will refine standard operating procedures (SOP) to ensure Muslims going for their Umrah pilgrimage have completed their two doses of the COVID-19 vaccines.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Ahmad Marzuk Shaary said this was to ensure incidences of unvaccinated pilgrims or with fake vaccination certificates would not recur.

"I am told the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MOTAC) have called umrah operators for a discussion so that such incidents will not recur.

"Prior to this, the government was forced to postpone Umrah travel for two months to resolve arising matters linked to the drastic hike of Omicron variant cases among Umrah pilgrims returning from Saudi Arabia," he said.

He told reporters this after presenting mandarin oranges to 40 recipients from the Chinese community at Kampung Pulau Belanga, Pengkalan Chepa, here today.

Commenting further, Ahmad Marzuk, who is also Pengkalan Chepa MP, said every individual wishing to perform the Umrah must be sincere in their intentions because the Umrah is not only meant for tourism.

On Wednesday, the Cabinet decided to allow Muslims to continue performing the Umrah from Feb 8.

-- BERNAMA