File Photo: Muslim pilgrims circling the KaabaI, slam s holiest shrine, at the Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia s holy city of Mecca. Al-Ahram
The extension period aims to allow more people to register for the Hajj.
The ministry also announced a new service through its Hajj website to enable citizens who have registered for the Hajj through tourism companies to inquire about their registration online and ensure that companies have registered their data.
Saudi Arabia announced earlier that it would resume receiving non-Saudi pilgrims who want to perform the Hajj following a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hajj is one of the world's largest religious gatherings, about 2.5 million people took part in 2019. The number of pilgrims Saudi Arabia will receive in 2022, however, will decrease by 40 percent to a million people – Saudi and non-Saudi alike – compared to the numbers it hosted before the outbreak.
After the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, Saudi authorities allowed only 1,000 pilgrims to participate.
In 2021, they upped the total to 60,000 fully vaccinated citizens and residents chosen through a lottery.
The Hajj season is expected to start on 7 July and will conclude on 12 July.
All capable Muslims are required to perform the Hajj pilgrimage, one of the five pillars of Islam, once in their lifetime. The hajj consists of a series of religious rites that are completed over five days in Islam's holiest city, Mecca, and surrounding areas of western Saudi Arabia.
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