Amid COVID-19, Indonesia cancels Hajj again

According to details, the cancellation came over concerns about the spread of COVID-19.

"Due to the pandemic and for the safety of the pilgrims, the government has decided that this year it won't allow Indonesian pilgrims to go again," the Indonesian minister said.

The Saudi government has also not yet issued Hajj quotas to any country, a spokesman for religious affairs said.

The Saudi health ministry assumed in March that it will allow people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 to attend the Hajj this year.

However, it is feared that authorities will only allow domestic pilgrims who have been vaccinated or have recovered from COVID-19 at least six months before the pilgrimage.

The kingdom lifted a ban on travellers arriving from 11 countries that it brought in to curb the spread of COVID-19, but will still require quarantine procedures.

Before the pandemic, about 2.5 million hajjis used to visit the holiest sites of Islam in Makkah and Madinah for the week-long Hajj and the year-round Umrah pilgrimage, which together earned the kingdom about $12 billion a year.

Last year, however, just 1,000 people who were already in the country were allowed to take part in a socially distanced Hajj.