Ugandan Muslims who wish to make the holy pilgrimage to Mecca this year have up to June 23 to get Umrah permits, the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Hajj and Umrah, has announced.

While answering some frequently asked questions on Twitter, the ministry said it had extended the suspension of issuing the Umrah permits for 26 days.

“There is a possibility of issuing Umrah permits again from July 19, corresponding to Dhu Al Hijjah 20, in order to facilitate the pilgrims coming to perform Hajj,” it added.

Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, Saudi Arabia suspended the holy pilgrimage to Mecca.

The Saudi Ministry also addressed other common queries, saying that if a Mahram (male companion) is not accepted, it is because he did not fulfil one of the conditions of registration.

It said that a pilgrim can communicate with their Hajj group through the e-track of pilgrims from within the Kingdom or via Eatamarna App in case the nomination of Hajj is from a different city than where the pilgrim resides.

“Pilgrims will be unable to change their package once it is assigned to them, however, they can cancel or inquire about it,” it added.

The ministry said it was mandatory for pilgrims to be completely vaccinated and gave a list of the country's approved vaccines.

They are: Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, two doses; Moderna vaccine, two doses; Oxford-AstraZeneca, two doses; Janssen, one dose; Covovax, two doses, Nuvaxovid (NUVAXOVID), two doses; Sinopharm, two doses; Sinovac, two doses; Covaxin, two doses; and Sputnik V, two doses.