Cairo: Over 217,000 Muslims residing in Saudi Arabia have met eligibility requirements out of a total of 297,444 who registered for performing the upcoming Hajj pilgrimage from inside the kingdom, findings of an electronic draw for domestic pilgrims have shown.
The Ministry of Hajj and Umrah said Wednesday that males accounted for 62 per cent of the overall domestic applicants while females accounted for 38 per cent.
The ministry said SMS messages would be sent to the qualified pilgrims to complete paying Hajj fees within 48 hours.
According to a breakdown provided by the ministry, the age group from 31 to 40 years topped the list of total domestic applicants, accounting for 38 per cent, followed by the 21-30 age group with 23 per cent.
Saudi Arabia has said it will allow 1 million pilgrims from inside and outside the kingdom to perform this year’s Hajj, after restricting the annual ritual to some thousands of Muslims living inside the country for the last two years due to the pandemic.
Eligible pilgrims this year must be under 65, fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and present a negative PCR test result of a sample collected within 72 hours from departure to the kingdom.
About 2.5 million Muslims from around the world used to attend Hajj in Saudi Arabia every year before the pandemic.
