The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has banned its citizens and residents from performing Umrah pilgrimage to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina over coronavirus fears.
The country’s state-run news agency SPA made the announcement on Wednesday.
The rare step by the kingdom, which hosts Islam's holiest sites, expands on restrictions introduced last week for Muslim pilgrims from around the world making the same religious trips and limiting the entry of tourists.
The latest measures concern the Umrah pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca and visits to a site in Medina, reports the Gulf News citing SPA.
"The decision will be under constant review and it will be reversed as soon as the reasons for reversal are present," SPA quoted a KSA Interior Ministry official as saying.
It comes a week after Riyadh banned foreigners from traveling to Saudi Arabia to complete the Umrah pilgrimage.
Umrah is the lesser pilgrimage to Mecca that can be completed throughout the year, as opposed to the annual hajj pilgrimage.
Saudi Arabia registered its first coronavirus infection Monday, saying the patient was a Saudi national who arrived from Iran via Bahrain.
Mecca, birthplace of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), is home to Islam's holiest site inside the Grand Mosque. Medina is where the Prophet is buried. The Umrah pilgrimage alone brought almost 7 million visitors from October 2018 to May 2019, according to government data.
