More than 19 million pilgrims conducted Umrah in the Grand Mosque during 20 days of Ramadan

Shared by Omar A. Mandia
Assistant Hajj Attaché, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Published on THE SUN DAILY, April 12, 2023

MAKKAH: More than 19 million pilgrims conducted Umrah in the Grand Mosque during the 20 days of Ramadan, and the Saudi Arabia government has been providing high-quality services through the General Presidency for the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques.

According to the Saudi Arabian News Agency (SPA), statistics released by the department today, the number of pilgrims who visited the Grand Mosque has topped 19,608,573 people until yesterday.

Samir bin Saad Al Suwehry, the deputy general head of the division charged with evaluating the department’s institutional excellence, inventiveness, and leadership, stated that the congregation was the main focus of his division’s work.

He said the service comprised the distribution of 1,045,104 bottles of Zamzam water, totalling 30,257,874 litres as well as the washing of carpets and mats using 655,990L of disinfection solutions.

In addition to using 2,600,000 litres of surface disinfectant, the cleaning and sterilisation procedure at the Grand Mosque also involves the preparation of 105,810 litres of hand washing soap, 103,625 litres of disinfectant liquid distributed by robots, 100,535 litres of biocare liquid, and 653,360 litres of surface disinfectant liquid.

He further added that the department uses human resources and offers social assistance to 901,951 congregations.

This initiative, he said, was the result of a directive from the department’s Director General, Sheikh Dr. Abdul Rahman Al Sudais, who wanted to employ both human capabilities and cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) applications in order to provide pilgrims with high-quality services, particularly during the month of Ramadan. – Bernama