Acting Director General of Hajj and Umrah Organization Khoirizi (Photo: kemenag.go.id)
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JAKARTA - The Saudi Arabian government officially allows international pilgrims to perform Umrah 1443 Hijri with several health protocol requirements starting August 10, 2021. However, Indonesia and 8 other countries cannot make direct flights to the holy land. In the latest provisions, pilgrims from 9 countries They are required to transit to quarantine in a third country for 14 days before arriving in Saudi Arabia. Among them, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Egypt, Turkey, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, and Lebanon.
The Acting Director General of Hajj and Umrah at the Ministry of Religion Khoirizi, understands that Saudi Arabia's policy in organizing this year's Umrah cannot be separated from the COVID-19 pandemic hostage. Moreover, Indonesia's daily number of positive cases is still high.
According to him, the government is currently focusing on dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. While continuing to communicate with the Saudis, either through Indonesian representatives in Riyad and Jeddah, as well as through the Saudi Ambassador in Jakarta.
"God willing, if the pandemic is under control, it will also have an impact on the process of organizing Umrah, even Hajj 1443 H," Khoirizi said as quoted from the Ministry of Religion's official website, Wednesday, July 28.
Khoirizi admitted that his party was aware of a circular from Saudi Arabia along with a number of requirements.
He said the Ministry of Religion would soon discuss the circular with the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Covid Prevention Task Force, the Ministry of Transportation, as well as the Association for Umrah Travel Organizers (PPIU). According to him, the understanding of the parties is important so that effective, solution-based, realistic and contextual steps can be formulated.
"We will discuss the Saudi circular with the parties so that there is a common understanding, both regarding international aviation policy in Saudi, and directly related to the policy of organizing Umrah," he explained. will discuss a number of things. Among other things, preparing a vaccination scheme, booster and PCR examination scheme for Umrah pilgrims as an anticipation so that there are no negative COVID-19 congregants during PCR in Indonesia, then positive during PCR in Saudi. "We will discuss these schemes as part of preparation, although The focus right now is overcoming the pandemic in the country. Hopefully Herd Immunity in Indonesia will also be realized soon," he said. Then, he said, his party will also form a joint team across ministries and state institutions, including the PPIU association, in order to prepare for the implementation of Umrah 1443H .
The government, he continued, will continue to strive to reduce the spread and transmission of COVID-19 in the country with various efforts, including accelerating the vaccination process. He hopes for the participation of the community and all parties to support the regulations that are applied. "Let's obey the health protocol and 5M discipline as an effort to break the chain of transmission of this virus," said Khoirizi.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language.
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