{"id":36654,"date":"2020-02-29T13:07:31","date_gmt":"2020-02-29T10:07:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/192.163.207.100\/~timesku1\/news\/?p=36654"},"modified":"2020-02-29T13:30:30","modified_gmt":"2020-02-29T10:30:30","slug":"saudi-arabia-bars-gulf-citizens-from-entering-makkah-madinah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timeskuwait.com\/news\/saudi-arabia-bars-gulf-citizens-from-entering-makkah-madinah\/","title":{"rendered":"Saudi Arabia bars Gulf citizens from entering Makkah, Madinah"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saudi Arabia will be temporarily suspending the entry of citizens from the Gulf Cooperation Council to the Kingdom\u2019s cities of Mecca and Madinah, according to a statement from the foreign ministry. The decision comes a day after the kingdom suspended visas for the year-round “umrah” pilgrimage.<\/span><\/p>\n

The GCC states are comprised of Saudi Arabia, The United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar. The ministry has not cleared whether this suspension is extended to Saudi citizens. This unprecedented decision which has left thousands of pilgrims in limbo excludes GCC citizens who have been in the kingdom for 14 consecutive days and did not show signs of coronavirus infection.<\/span><\/p>\n

The ministry has also issued a statement clarifying that those who wish to perform Umrah or visit the Prophet\u2019s Mosque can apply through the website of the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah (Umrah online course) to obtain a permit during the period of temporary suspension.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although Saudi Arabia has so far reported no coronavirus cases there are mounting concerns over a spike in infections elsewhere in the Middle East.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saudi Arabia will be temporarily suspending the entry of citizens from the Gulf Cooperation Council to the Kingdom\u2019s cities of Mecca and Madinah, according to a statement from the foreign ministry. The decision comes a day after the kingdom suspended visas for the year-round “umrah” pilgrimage. The GCC states are comprised of Saudi Arabia, The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36655,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3090,2],"tags":[3086,356,114,369,1019],"class_list":["post-36654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coronavirus","category-featured","tag-coronavirus","tag-gcc","tag-gulf","tag-health","tag-saudi-arabia"],"yoast_head":"\nSaudi Arabia bars Gulf citizens from entering Makkah, Madinah - TimesKuwait<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timeskuwait.com\/news\/saudi-arabia-bars-gulf-citizens-from-entering-makkah-madinah\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Saudi Arabia bars Gulf citizens from entering Makkah, Madinah - TimesKuwait\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Saudi Arabia will be temporarily suspending the entry of citizens from the Gulf Cooperation Council to the Kingdom\u2019s cities of Mecca and Madinah, according to a statement from the foreign ministry. The decision comes a day after the kingdom suspended visas for the year-round “umrah” pilgrimage. The GCC states are comprised of Saudi Arabia, The […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timeskuwait.com\/news\/saudi-arabia-bars-gulf-citizens-from-entering-makkah-madinah\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TimesKuwait\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/timeskuwait\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-02-29T10:07:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-02-29T10:30:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/timeskuwait.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/1691781-1707384299.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"670\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"502\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"TimesAdmin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@thetimesq8\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@thetimesq8\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"TimesAdmin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timeskuwait.com\\\/news\\\/saudi-arabia-bars-gulf-citizens-from-entering-makkah-madinah\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timeskuwait.com\\\/news\\\/saudi-arabia-bars-gulf-citizens-from-entering-makkah-madinah\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"TimesAdmin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timeskuwait.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1f7ebf5aeb4e2934be640ecead337f70\"},\"headline\":\"Saudi Arabia bars Gulf citizens from entering Makkah, Madinah\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-02-29T10:07:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-02-29T10:30:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timeskuwait.com\\\/news\\\/saudi-arabia-bars-gulf-citizens-from-entering-makkah-madinah\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":186,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timeskuwait.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timeskuwait.com\\\/news\\\/saudi-arabia-bars-gulf-citizens-from-entering-makkah-madinah\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timeskuwait.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/1691781-1707384299.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"coronavirus\",\"GCC\",\"Gulf\",\"Health\",\"saudi arabia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Coronavirus\",\"Featured\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timeskuwait.com\\\/news\\\/saudi-arabia-bars-gulf-citizens-from-entering-makkah-madinah\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timeskuwait.com\\\/news\\\/saudi-arabia-bars-gulf-citizens-from-entering-makkah-madinah\\\/\",\"name\":\"Saudi Arabia bars Gulf citizens from entering Makkah, Madinah - TimesKuwait\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timeskuwait.com\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timeskuwait.com\\\/news\\\/saudi-arabia-bars-gulf-citizens-from-entering-makkah-madinah\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timeskuwait.com\\\/news\\\/saudi-arabia-bars-gulf-citizens-from-entering-makkah-madinah\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timeskuwait.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/1691781-1707384299.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-02-29T10:07:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-02-29T10:30:30+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timeskuwait.com\\\/news\\\/saudi-arabia-bars-gulf-citizens-from-entering-makkah-madinah\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/timeskuwait.com\\\/news\\\/saudi-arabia-bars-gulf-citizens-from-entering-makkah-madinah\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timeskuwait.com\\\/news\\\/saudi-arabia-bars-gulf-citizens-from-entering-makkah-madinah\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timeskuwait.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/1691781-1707384299.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timeskuwait.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/1691781-1707384299.jpg\",\"width\":670,\"height\":502,\"caption\":\"Muslim worshippers pray and circumambulate around the Kaaba, Islam's holiest shrine, at the Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia's holy city of Mecca on August 25, 2018. 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