Saudi media reported that registration for Muslims living in Saudi Arabia wishing to participate in this year's Hajj pilgrimage has ended.

A nine-day application process ended at midnight Saturday after more than 390,000 applicants applied for Hajj, Saudi television Al Ekhbariya reported.

Successful nominees for the upcoming pilgrimage will be announced later Sunday, according to the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah.

The nominees will be selected by an electronic draw, the ministry said, adding that priority will be given to those who are fully vaccinated and did not previously perform Hajj.

According to a spokesman for the ministry, when registration via the Eatmarna app and an electronic track has been completed, sorting out and the e-draw will be conducted to determine which nominees meet Hajj conditions.

Hesham Saeed said nominees will be notified via text message.

Would-be pilgrims will have 48 hours to pay for their preferred Hajj packages.

Saudi Arabia will allow 1 million pilgrims within and outside the kingdom to perform this year's Hajj, due next month, after restricting the annual ritual to some thousands of Muslims within the country due to COVID-19 outbreaks for the last two years.

According to Saed Al Juhani, the acting head of the Coordination Council for Domestic Pilgrims, the figure will include about 150,000 pilgrims residing in Saudi Arabia.

Likewise, the open buffet service will be reintroduced after two years of suspension due to pandemic-related restrictions, he said last month. A pilgrim must be under 65 years of age, fully immunized against COVID-19, and present a negative PCR test result to qualify this year.

In the years before the pandemic, around 2.5 million Muslims from around the world attended Hajj in Saudi Arabia.