Saudi Arabia announces success of first phase of 2022 haj season's operational plan

KUALA LUMPUR: The General Presidency for the Affairs of the Grand Mosque and the Prophet's Mosque announced the success of the first phase of the operational plan for the 1443 Hijrah Haj season with no 'incidents' among pilgrims being reported.

Its president, Sheikh Dr Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais announced the matter in a press conference on Friday.

Sudais was quoted by Saudi TV as saying, "The plan, which focuses on operational aspects and aims to offer the best and highest quality services to the pilgrims, has achieved its first phase goal, Alhamdulillah."

"However, work is still ongoing to continue providing a safe and healthy environment in Haramain," he added.

The operational plan, considered the largest ever planned in the COVID-19 pandemic era, was launched last June, focusing on 10 key steps under Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 strategic goal.

Meanwhile, the Haj Statistics Report 2022 released by the Saudi General Authority for Statistics stated that the number of pilgrims for this year reached 899,353 people.

Of the total, 779,919 were foreign pilgrims, while the remaining 119,434 were domestic pilgrims, the Saudi Arabian News Agency (SPA) reported.

According to SPA, as many as 21.4 per cent of the pilgrims came from Arab countries, 53.8 per cent from Asia and 13.2 per cent from Africa.

The remaining 11.6 per cent represented pilgrims from Europe, America and Australia.

In April, the Saudi Arabian government announced that only one million Muslims under the age of 65 and fully vaccinated would be allowed to perform the haj this year.

-- BERNAMA