Citizens and residents performed Salat Al-Fajr (dawn prayers) at the Grand Mosque on Sunday as the second phase of the gradual resumption of performing Umrah and visiting for the citizens and residents from inside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia began, with 75% of the capacity at the Grand Mosque. The second phase of the gradual resumption of the pilgrimage and visits to the Two Holy Mosques takes into account observing the precautionary health measures across the Grand Mosque. The Ministry of Hajj and Umrah, in cooperation with the concerned authorities, have raised the degree of readiness and all preparations for the service of pilgrims in accordance with the highest quality standards. In addition they have applied all precautionary measures, and using all technical systems and electronic programs to facilitate the procedures and provide full services with all speed and perfection. More than 600,000 worshipers will be issued permits to perform prayers at the Grand Mosque along with over 250,000 Umrah pilgrims as part of the second phase, which will conclude on Oct. 31. The second stage allows obtaining four types of permits, namely performing rituals of Umrah, performing prayers within Al-Rawdah Al-Sharifah (the area between Prophet Muhammad's grave and his pulpit), performing prayers inside the Mosque of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and greeting the Prophet (PBUH) and his companions. This comes in implementation of the royal directives to gradually allow the performance of Umrah and the visit according to four stages, while taking necessary health precautions in response to the aspirations of many of Muslims inside the Kingdom or abroad to perform the rituals of Umrah and visit. According to the executive plan drawn up by government agencies, the second phase of the resumption of Umrah and the visit will witness greater numbers than the first phase, by 15,000 Umrah performers and 40,000 worshipers per day as a maximum. Each group will be allocated 3 hours only to complete the rituals of Umrah. A spokesman for the General Presidency for the Affairs of the Grand Mosque had said prior to the start of the second phase: "The pilgrims should abide by the time slot specified in the permits issued to them and must maintain the deadline for the entry and exit of the Grand Mosque. "As part of the directives, the pilgrims must maintain the physical distance of one and a half meters from each other, wear facemasks, sanitize hands regularly and cooperate with the employees of the presidency and the authorities working to serve pilgrims and worshipers." — SPA
