Riyadh: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has advised Umrah pilgrims to wear face masks while visiting Grand Mosque in Makkah and Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah.
Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, on Monday, August 14, the authorities said, “Wearing a mask in the two holy mosques, in Makkah and Madinah and their surrounding areas, protects you and others from disease infection.”
The advisory comes amid global reports of a new variant of the deadly COVID-19 spreading worldwide. EG.5, also known as Eris, is a sublineage of the omicron variant and has been detected in 51 countries, including the United States, China, South Korea and Japan, according to a preliminary risk assessment.
On August 9 the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that it is tracking a new strain of COVID-19 as new global cases reached nearly 1.5 million from July 10 to Sunday, August 6, an 80 percent compared to the previous 28 days.
