Saudi allows 57,585 Bangladeshi pilgrims for hajj this year

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has allowed some 57,856 pilgrims from Bangladesh to perform hajj this year.

The Ministry of Hajj and Umrah of Saudi Arabia approved the quotas for pilgrims from all the countries around the world for the hajj of 2022, according to a KSA gazette issued Saturday (23 April).

As per the quota, Bangladesh will send the fourth-largest number of pilgrims.

Indonesia has the highest number of Hajj pilgrims with a quota of 100,051 while Pakistan got the second largest number with 81,132 pilgrims and India came third with 79,237 pilgrims.

Saudi Arabia has set certain terms and conditions for the foreign pilgrims for this year's hajj. These include not allowing pilgrims above the age of 65 and the pilgrims have to take two doses of coronavirus vaccine.

Due to the pandemic, no pilgrims from Bangladesh were allowed to travel to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2020 and 2021.

Last year, the kingdom limited the annual hajj, one of Islam's five main pillars, to 60,000 domestic participants, compared to the pre-pandemic 25 lakh. Had it not been for Covid, a total of 1 lakh 37 thousand 198 people from Bangladesh could have performed Hajj in 2020.